The Terrible Consequences
by Sharingan-kun
Summary: Torn from their world and captured as slaves, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had lost all hope until a strange old man purchased them, freed them, and brought them under his wing. With his teachings, these three will change the kingdom of Fiore forever.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Before you read this story, I want to make it clear that this will _not_ be your typical Naruto/Fairy Tail crossover. So for your convenience, I've listed the things that my story will and will not have, just so you don't have to waste your time reading this if it isn't your cup of tea.

- There will be no Harem  
>- Naruto will not be overpowered or godlike in any way, shape, or form.<br>- Naruto does not join Fairy Tail

Now that I've lost most of my readers, here's what the story _will _have:

- Sasuke (will not be bashed)  
>- Sakura (will not be bashed)<br>- Lots of OCs

Well then, to the five readers I have left, I hope you'll enjoy the story =)

**Disclaimer:** First of all, Naruto and Fairy Tail are owned by their respective mangaka, Masashi Kishimoto and Hiro Mashima. Second of all, this is a work of fan fiction so my ownership of anything else in this story is questionable at best.

**Summary: **When Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura found themselves in a strange new world, all they really wanted was a way back home. But that was before they became bound to a guild led by an eccentric old man. Now, going home was the least of their worries. Caught in a struggle much greater than themselves, they are suddenly in a position that could potentially save all of Fiore or destroy it.

**Pairings: **None decided yet but Team 7 will not be paired with each other.

_Chapter slightly revised and edited on November 11, 2011_

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue - Decisions and Trust<strong>

**- 1 -**

Year X779 - Somewhere In the City of Crocus (Capital of Fiore)

There were many things that Illen Devon still needed for his return to glory. He needed reputation. He needed power. He needed money. And most of all, he needed a few more useful people he could actually trust.

He wasn't entirely worried about the first two on his list. Both reputation and power would be attained easily enough with a bit of money. His current problem was that he had just spent most of his remaining fortune on the aforementioned fourth item of his list, the trustworthy people, and he couldn't even trust them yet. But still, they looked useful. Very useful. And they were still only just children. If the spark he saw in them wasn't just a passing glint from his spectacles, they would be worth a thousand times more than the hundred million Jewels he had paid to acquire them from the slavers.

Night was quickly approaching and Illen, looking pretty energetic for a man in his mid-fifties, continued down a dirt path while keeping a watchful eye on the three small figures who walked sheepishly in front of him. Illen, himself, was dressed in one of the current fashions of the pampered Crocus nobility, a richly tailored suit of fine onyx silk. His medium length hair was tied cleanly at the back of his head and his short beard was kept neatly trimmed. If anything, Illen wore the look of a rich and powerful man like a second skin even though right now, he was neither rich nor powerful. Not anymore at least, but he still insisted on looking the part.

The three small figures leading him were the children he had purchased just three hours ago from a slaver he didn't much care for. The children, two boys and a girl, each looked to be no older than twelve or thirteen. However, underneath their young looks belied an unusual level of maturity. Illen hadn't the slightest idea why but it was one of the reasons he had bought them.

For now, the kids had stopped at the end of the dirt path, in front of what looked like a large house.

"Welcome, children, to my humble home and the modest beginnings of a powerful empire!" Illen bellowed the proclamation like he was some sort of king.

The three children he had in tow took a moment to peer at the large, almost dilapidated building he called 'home'.

The house was big, to be sure, but it looked old and dirty and seemed to be cultivating some kind of exotic yellow fungus on it's walls. The windows were mostly crooked, the roof was in shambles and it's one saving grace was the fact that it was still in one piece; except for the front door which it looked as if it would fall off it's hinges if so much as a sneeze blew in it's general direction. All around the house there was no lawn, no garden, no trees, or anything green whatsoever. However, the house was ridiculously tall and so it's view of all the surrounding dirt and rock was probably nothing short of spectacular.

With only the most skeptical look on their faces, the children all turned back to Illen, who only smiled for whatever reason.

"Now, business," he said as though on cue.

"First," he started as he pulled out three nearly identical sheets of richly decorated papers, "I should have you know that I own you. You are all old enough to know what slaves are, correct? With these three slaver contracts, you three are now my property. Bound to be legally, magically, or otherwise. Should you try to rebel against me or attempt escape, all I would need to do is conjure up a single thought and-"

Abruptly, the decorative seals on the contracts he held up began to glow a bright blue. At the same time, similar seals adorned on the necks of all three children burned hot upon their skin. They couldn't help but scream out in agony as they fell to their hands and knees.

A moment later, and just as abruptly, the pain and markings dulled enough for them to come back to their senses, leaving them gasping for air and rubbing their sore necks.

Gingerly, each of them returned to their feet; all three of them now visibly distraught.

"Do you all understand? I'd hate to give you another demonstration of the powers binding you to me."

They knew a good time to nod vigorously when they heard it.

"Good. You three are quite the investment, after all, and it would be such a shame to have to resort to something as crude as these slaver contracts all the time."

"This leads me to my second point. I purchased you three at the ridiculously preposterous price of one hundred million Jewels. Now, I can already hear your minds buzzing, asking me why. Well, it's partly because your slaver friend was the type who would likely sell out his own family if the profit margins were high enough; and partly because I can see a rare sort of... something... in each of you. It is that _something_ I need. In fact, I hold you in such high regard that I'm sure if the three of you _truly_ put your minds to it, an escape from me and this powerful slaver enchantment cast upon you would only be a matter of time and opportunity."

"So, to save you the trouble..."

Illen raised the three slave contracts up again, forcing whelps and winces from the kids. But instead of the intense pain they expected, they heard a rip and looked up just in time to see the slave contracts sliced roughly in two. The seals on the contracts began to glow a dull red then faded away until there was nothing left but three sets of blank parchment torn in half.

All three children froze in shock.

"Surprised?" asked Illen, amused. "Don't be. I have many jobs that I will eventually give you three and they will all require the entirety of your skill and wit to accomplish. I can't you have distracted by schemes of escape and freedom, now can I? Not to mention, watching my back all the time would be a terrible inconvenience for me. I have quite the high blood pressure, you know?"

"Now, the point that I hope to get through to you is this: I _need_ people. And not just anybody. I need people who I can trust and people who will extend that same trust to me. I require people I can count on, understand? And we all know that a slave and slaver relationship uses sentiments like 'trust' to wipe it's ass so I went ahead and set you all free. I'm not expecting this to win me your complete confidence or anything like that. But, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that this buys me a pass to try and earn it."

The three children looked at one another, then glanced back at Illen. Each of them slowly taking cautious steps away from him.

"Ah, already thinking are we?" Illen chuckled, somewhat cheerfully. "Good! Excellent! Do you run? I wouldn't stop you, you know. If you run away now, I would assume that you were as useful to me as a steaming pile of... ah... something that steams and piles. Anyways, that isn't important. What _is_ important is that those afraid of a little risk are liabilities in my line of work. So go ahead and run, if that is your plan, and we'll see just how long you last in the streets of Crocus. I can almost assure you that it wouldn't be long."

Illen paused for effect and the children looked to each other again, as if unsure of what to do. It was then that the child with the raven hair spoke up.

"And if we stay?" he asked.

Illen was pleasantly surprised by the confidence and determination he felt in the child's voice. It made him even more sure that his investment would pay off.

"Ahh, the other choice," said Illen with a bit of theatrical mysticism. "It's very simple, really. If you decide to stay, you will work for me. I will expect you to do anything and everything I ask of you, without exception. And if you don't, there are worse things than slaver contracts to worry about."

"But in return, I shall take good care of you. You will be well fed and comfortably sheltered. You will be trained and educated towards everything I require of you. And any job you successfully complete will be rewarded fairly."

"I should warn you, though. The work I give you is solely for my own benefit. I guarantee you that each job will hold it's own sets of unique difficulties and... well... life-threatening risks. Just something to consider."

He let the words mull over and cook for a bit.

"And also, let me make one thing clear. Once you make your decision, there will be no turning back. Leave and you will never be welcome here again. I will leave you alone to contend with the more 'delicate' and 'interesting' aspects of Crocus life. On the other hand, should you decide to stay... Well, let's just say that as soon as you enter my house, you will become part of my order whether you like it or not. And the only way to leave my order is through an untimely death. It would be a quick death, though, if that is any consolation."

"So, I leave the decision to you, children," finished Illen. "Choose carefully. Choose wisely. And make the decision that will likely haunt you for the rest of your lives." He chuckled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, it's getting a little cold for my brittle old bones so I'll be inside." He gave a final and appraising look to each of them. Then, without so much as another word, he disappeared behind the door of his crooked house.

**- 2 -**

Standing under the reddening sky and staring intently at the lopsided door of the crooked house were Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. They each wore identical tattered green cloaks that covered whatever clothing they were wearing underneath. They were all weary and now wary with their necks still warm with the pain that was caused by the activation of the slaver contracts just minutes ago.

Sakura, with her long and tangled pink hair, looked to each of the boys at her side, trying to gauge their thoughts. She gleaned very little except for the fact that Sasuke looked determined about something and Naruto was still mostly in shock, probably at their sudden and unexpected freedom.

"So... what should we do now?" asked Sakura, more to break the maddening tension than anything else.

"We're staying," said Sasuke, simply.

Naruto confronted this with both fists clenched. "What? Didn't you hear a thing that crazy old man said? He admitted that he was going to use us for life-threatening jobs! You know what life-threatening means, don't you, genius-of-the-academy-san? It means we - oof!"

Sasuke had violently gripped the neck of Naruto's cloak. "I know what it means, idiot. But it sounds a hell of a lot better than going back out there with no money or food or even a place to go."

"So what..." Naruto fought back, "You want us to die working for this stranger instead? He's like some kind of psycho or something. At least if we go out there to the city, we can try to get some more information. We could find our way back... home." Naruto hesitated at the final word.

Sasuke laughed. He laughed hard, shoving Naruto away as he did. He didn't even know why he laughed, himself. There was nothing even remotely funny about their situation. "Home. And what do you think we've been trying to do this past month, huh? We don't even know if this is _our_ world. The maps sure as hell don't match anything we've studied at the academy. So what do you want us to do, huh Naruto? Do you want us to keep wandering around? Maybe get lucky and get tricked by some slavers again? I don't think so. _I'm_ not going anywhere. But if you want to leave then go right ahead. I won't stop you."

"Maybe I _will_," steamed Naruto. "Those slavers are better company than assholes like _you_!"

"Stop it you two!" Sakura shouted. "We promised to stick together no matter what, remember? Now just calm down and let's think this through. This man-"

"The Psycho," reminded Naruto.

"Is our best shot," retorted Sasuke.

"At what? Suicide? Yeah, he sure is."

"Just think about it, moron," said Sasuke. "We stay with him and we'll get food, a home, and we might even learn a thing or two about this world. Maybe find out exactly where we are. With some luck, we'll learn enough to find a way back to Fire Country."

"Are you forgetting about the life-threatening risks part? Or the part where he says he'll kill us if we so much as think about leaving him. Do you _want_ to get us all killed?"

"You think life out there is going to be any less of a risk?" yelled Sasuke, pointing at the direction they came from. "We have _nothing_! Roaming the towns and cities have gotten us nowhere and we can only survive out in the wilderness for so long. And I'm sure you remember all those times we tried to find jobs to earn some money and failed miserably because none of us have any identification or citizenship or guild representation, whatever the hell that means. Nobody is going to hire us out there. Face it, idiot, we go out on our own again and we'll just be aimlessly wandering like before, struggling to survive."

"I think Sasuke's right, Naruto," Sakura chimed in. "That old man, as weird as he is, is our best shot."

"What? Not you too, Sakura. I... I admit I don't really have a clue about what to do out there. But it can't be worse than that old man_._ How can you even trust a person like that?"

"Well, he did set us free, remember?"

Naruto opened his mouth to say something. Then he promptly closed it because his retort would have just come out as more obscenities towards Sasuke.

"I mean, if you really think about it," reasoned Sakura, "I don't think he would willingly send us off to our deaths."

Naruto scratched his head. "And what makes you think he wouldn't?"

"He paid for us, remember? We were all there when the slaver sold us. A hundred million Jewels. We've checked the prices of things in this world before and a Jewel is pretty much equal to a Ryo back home. That's a lot of money to just throw away by sending us off to die, don't you think? It just wouldn't make any sense."

"Then why all the death threats in the first place? Is he lying to us?"

"It's probably some kind of test," said Sasuke. "If you were paying attention to anything other than his threats, you'd realize that he clearly wants us to work for him. He paid a huge amount of money to buy us then he set us free from those contract things to show that he's willing to trust us. Then he gave us a choice and told us things to drive us away to ensure that the decision of working for him, if we decided that way, would be entirely our own."

"Hmmm, because in turn, he wants _us_ to trust _him_," said Sakura with sudden realization. "He said himself that he needed people he could count on."

Even Naruto had to admit that it made sense. Sort of. Even still, he just couldn't bring himself to trust that old man. "But if we stay, what is he going to make us do?"

Sasuke and Sakura both looked dumbfounded at that. "Only one way to find out," said Sasuke.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second." Naruto crossed his arms in an 'x' in front of himself. "There's no way I can agree to this."

"Too bad, idiot, the vote is skewed two to one in our favor."

"Then you two can go get yourselves killed for all I care. I'm taking off."

"We _promised_ to stay together, Naruto. _Promised!_" Sakura scowled so hard it probably killed something that caught sight of her.

Naruto had a look of indignation smeared all over his face. "But... I... What if... GRRRAAAGGGGH... Fine!" He matched Sakura's scowl. "Fine! But the moment we're in trouble, I'm gonna call out 'I told you so' and you're both gonna feel like total crap before you die! I swear it!"

"Then so be it," said Sasuke. "Now if nobody has anything else to add, let's get this over with."

With that, all three of them approached the house. Naruto, still paranoid, tried to peek through each of the windows only to find that they were all pitch black and he couldn't see a thing inside. Defeated, he followed Sasuke who opened the door, which felt far sturdier than it looked.

Then they all stepped inside.

If the look of the house from outside was meant to be deceiving, it more than did it's job. The room they entered was probably the most opulent any of them had ever seen. The floors were a dark hardwood surrounded by walls of immaculately polished stone. Decorative pieces of what looked like expensive artwork hung tastefully about. It was as if the room itself might have been torn out of some rich noble's mansion.

But all the gold and silver and fineries in the world couldn't distract them from the intoxicating aroma that filled the room. It smelled of good food. _Really_ good food and it had been far too long since their last decent meal. Their eyes followed their noses to the source, a beautifully carved table sitting in the corner of the room, topped with drool-inducing food, and set for four.

Mouths were watering even before they spotted the man standing behind it all with a smile entirely too cunning to be a human expression. And when they did spot him, they grew perfectly still, like animals ready to spring away to safety.

"Congratulations," he said, "You three have, quite possibly, just made the worst decision of your lives." Unnervingly, his smile grew even wider as he said it. "Welcome to the Terrible Consequence."

Prologue - Decisions and Trust  
>- END -<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1 - The Set Up<br>**

**- 1 -**

Year X784 (That's right, I fast forwarded five years.) - Inside an Inn Somewhere in Hargeon Town

"Tell us where your hideout is, you slaver scum!" screamed Naruto.

"Please, I have no idea what you're talking about." Currently sitting at a desk and tied down onto a sturdy wooden chair, Bora's latest response earned him a peppering of fists to his face courtesy of the blond interrogator beside him. Bora groaned afterwards, blood forming at the corner of his swollen lip.

"If you don't start talking _right now_ I'll rip your throat out and stretch it till it tells me where the hideout is, you bastard." Naruto tightly gripped Bora's collar, ignoring the throbbing pain from his own swollen cheek as he did.

"Ick, Naruto, that's just gross." Sitting at the opposite corner of the desk, tapping her fingers impatiently, was Sakura. She casually flung her long pink hair to the side, momentarily distracting both Bora and Naruto with tight curves artfully hidden behind an orange summer dress. (A dress that was carefully hand-picked by Naruto for this mission. He said that it would bring out her mediocre but still lovely chest. You can guess what happened to Naruto afterwards.)

All feline grace and sashaying hips, Sakura shoved Naruto aside and took a place behind Bora such that her chest pressed up against the back of his head. Then, she followed up by delicately tracing his collarbone with a single finger. "It doesn't have to be this way, you know?" she whispered seductively into his ear. "Just tell us where it is. There might even be a little something in it for you."

Deadpan, Bora replied, "Sorry lady, but that doesn't work with someone of, er... your build."

The seductive look fell from her face so suddenly that the result looked something like the incarnation of despair framed in pink. "Tell us where your hideout is, you slaver scum!" she yelled, suddenly throttling Bora's neck and shaking him violently.

"Stop it, Sakura! You'll kill him!" Naruto rushed in and broke them up, securing Sakura before any permanent damage to Bora could be done.

"Let go. Let. Go!" she screamed. "I'm gonna rip his balls off and shove them so far up his-"

"Ahem, are you two done yet?" said a figure leaning up against a wall, all shrouded in a conveniently placed shadow. From that shadow emerged Sasuke, brooding and mysterious as ever. His looks were dark and handsome with an effect so bewitching it was a wonder why they didn't lock him away in a dungeon for the same reason they made Charm magic illegal. "You guys are useless. I'll handle this one so just get out of my way."

Naruto and a somewhat more calmed down Sakura both backed off, allowing their comrade to take the stage. Slowly and deliberately, Sasuke walked around the table, a plan clearly formulating in his razor sharp mind. He was their leader for a reason, after all.

The entire room fell silent with expectation when he finally took a seat across from Bora and stared out with hard, piercing eyes. Folding his hands together, Sasuke took a slow breath and menacingly leaned forward with an ice cold glare planted on his face.

"Now, Bora," he said very carefully. "_Tell_ _us,_ where your _hidout_ is, you slaver_ SCUM!"_

Holding their breaths, Naruto and Sakura both waited for Sasuke's ridiculously brilliant followup... or something... _anything_ really... but nothing came. Even Bora seemed utterly shocked into silence. It was a long and awkward moment that passed.

"Ughh, this isn't working," said Sasuke, finally.

"Of course it didn't work," complained Naruto. "You just said exactly what _I_ said in a different tone."

"Just shut up or _you'll_ be the one tied down to that chair."

"Hah? Why don't you just try it and see what happens to that pretty face of yours."

Bora let go a whelp of pain and both Naruto and Sasuke paused mid-fight to see Sakura torturingly ripping out whole wads of dark hair from Bora's head. "Stop it! Owww. Please... I don't know anything. Oww."

"Insult me, will you?" said Sakura, a murderous glint in her emerald eyes. _Riip._

"Owww! Please stop. I'm sorry." _Riiip. _"AHHHGGGH!"

"You like them _bigger_, do you?" _Riiiip._

"Owww, god damnit Please!" he begged desperately. "I'm sorry. I didn't say they were small. They're... they're... lovely!" _RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP. _"GRAAAARRRRRGGHGGGH" Both Naruto and Sasuke winced at that one.

"Lovely! LOVELY! I _swear_ If I hear that word one more time today-" She ripped out another chunk of the now pre-maturely-balding-Bora's hair and tossed a scalding glare over at Naruto.

"Uhh, so what do we do now?" asked Naruto, doing his best to ignore the tortured screams of Sakura's victim. "I don't think we'll be getting anything out of him. And we need that hideout for phase two of the plan."

Sasuke scoffed and folded his arms. "I was sure he was the one. But... we still have that other contact. Let's just pay him a similar visit."

"Right," nodded Naruto in understanding. Then motioned over to Bora who was now completely bald. "So what about him?"

Sasuke pondered for a moment as he watched Sakura trying viciously to pull down Bora's pants. If the Uchiha teen found the situation even remotely odd, he didn't show it.

Bora's voice, though, became noticeably more panicked. "Wh-what are you doing?"

Sakura looked at him like it was the stupidest question in the world. "Why, I'm finding more hair, of course. What did you think I was doing?"

"Oh god, you wouldn't!"

"Just watch me."

Seemingly coming to a decision, Sasuke motioned for Naruto to follow him. "Let's go Naruto. We'll leave the two of them alone. Besides, Sakura's got a lot of pent-up stress. This'll be good for her."

Naruto looked over to see that Bora had spread his legs wide in his fight to keep his pants on. The action turned out to be a grave mistake as it left certain parts wide open for an attack which Sakura gladly took advantage of. She gave him a swift kick in his nether regions, and it was then that even Naruto felt sorry for Bora; wincing when he imagined what it would feel like for his own balls to be shoved up into his lungs. "Err... you sure that's a good idea?"

"C'mon, let's go," said Sasuke.

Naruto shrugged and followed. But the two of them didn't even take two steps towards the door before they heard Bora pleading and coughing after them. "Wait!" he groaned, clearly still under the after-effects of Sakura's attack. "Where are you going? You can't... you can't leave me alone with _her_!"

Without bothering to turn around, Sasuke threw his hand up in a nonchalant wave. "Have fun, Sakura. Meet us at the Sunny Fish when you're done."

"_No_! Wait. Please! Oh god, you _win_," cried out Bora all at once. "You win... I'll tell you everything. Just get her... get her away from me."

Sasuke stopped mid stride and smiled. Naruto did the same. Even Sakura grinned wide as she straightened herself up and brushed the hair from her hands.

"Oh?" asked Sasuke as he turned around. "But I thought you didn't know anything?"

Bora coughed some more, then wheezed and sniffled, generally looking like the poorest excuse for a man they'd ever seen. "I-I lied," said Bora finally. "I'm the ringleader of our slaver group. I'll tell you everything you want to know. So please... just... get her away."

Sasuke paused for a second then nudged Naruto in the arm with his elbow. "See, Naruto? And you said it wouldn't work."

Naruto sighed, pulling out a thick wad of cash from inside his orange jacket. "A hundred thousand Jewels right? Here, you thief. I'll never doubt you again."

"That's what you always say, Naruto. But you never learn," said Sasuke. He took the cash from Naruto, quickly flipped through the bills, and stuffed it into his shirt pocket. "And good job, Sakura, as always."

Sakura beamed. "My work here is done," she said, moving past the boys towards the exit. "I'll go prep for phase two. Meet you boys back at the Sunny Fish."

The whole exchange made Bora more than a little confused. "W-wait..." he stuttered. "You planned all this?"

"Yep," confirmed Naruto. "Everything from you 'charming' our friend Sakura, to her leading you here to get ambushed, and even this entire interrogation with her angrily torturing you... It was all part of the game."

"Thanks for playing," finished Sasuke. "So tell us everything we need to know and we'll be on our way and out of your hai- er... hmmm..."

With a defeated sigh, Bora looked to each of them. To his dismay, both held smiles entirely too cunning to be human expressions. "Just... who are you people?"

"Oh, we're just the Terrible Consequences of your actions."

**- 2 -**

Hargeon Town - Room 13 of the Sunny Fish Inn

"So here's our mark," said Sasuke, tossing a large photo onto the wooden table so both Sakura and Naruto could see. Both of them studied the photo for a moment, Naruto more intently than normal.

"So... huge," said Naruto.

"Ugh," Sakura slapped him upside the head. "Look up, idiot."

"Whoa and she's pretty too!"

"Her name is Lucy," said Sasuke. "Lucy Heartfilia. Age 17. The Celestial Spirit Mage we're about to recruit."

"Hmm, so it's confirmed then? Today?" Sakura luxuriously stretched back into her chair, pretending not to notice when Naruto snuck glances back and forth at the photo and her. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," said Sasuke. "I got the source from Master Illen himself. Her mother is Layla Heartfilia who happened to be a Spirit Mage herself before she passed away. Anyways, according to my source, this Lucy girl has already left her home and she's currently on a journey to join a mage guild."

"So how do we know which guild she's heading for? There's tons out there," said Naruto.

"Her father's rich," said Sasuke. "She's been living a pampered life so it goes to reason that she'll probably settle for nothing but the best. We can rule out all of the smaller, less popular guilds."

"So the top guilds, then," pondered Naruto. "What were they again?"

Sakura was more than happy to answer. "Let's see... Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Phantom Lord, and ooh! Fairy Tail!"

"Fairy Tail..." said Naruto. "Of course. The most popular guild in Fiore. It's so obvious."

"Fairy Tail." Sasuke agreed. "And to get to there, she'll have to pass through Hargeon Town, which is why _we're_ here."

"So phase two of the plan-"

"Is a set up," said Sasuke. "Glad you finally caught on. There's no way she's going to join any guild other than Fairy Tail, let alone ours, unless we do a little tarnishing of it's reputation. Sakura, is everything ready?"

Sakura nodded and kicked the heavy chest that sat at the side of her chair.

"Good," nodded Sasuke as he leaned in closer. "Now pay attention. Here's what we're going to do..."

* * *

><p><strong>- Interlude - Introductions -<strong>

Year X779 - Illen's House

Illen watched curiously as Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto stuffed their faces with all the food that was on the table. Mugs of water were filled and refilled as the feasting continued until there was nothing left on the table but dirty dishes and scraps and crumbs. Then finally, with nothing left to consume, the kids turned their eyes warily to Illen.

"Ahh, finished are we? How was it? Good, I hope. I put a lot of time and effort into that meal, you know." When the kids said nothing in return, he sighed. "Well then, I suppose it is time for me to explain everything that will happen here. Come, follow me."

They followed Illen up a flight of creaking stairs and to a heavyset door. Behind the door was a room with nothing more than a large wooden table surrounded by chairs. Illen motioned for the children to take a seat.

"Now, introductions!" exclaimed Illen as he clasped his hands together. "I'll start. My name is Illen Devon. You three may call me Master Illen. I dream of large sums of money and romantic walks down a beach. This building here is my home and also happens to double as the hall of my guild. Yes, yes, you heard me, I run a guild which you three are all now a part of. It is a mage guild, of course. Approved by the mage council and everything. I have already told you the name of the guild but just to jog your memory, here it is again: we call ourselves the Terrible Consequence."

"Now," he finished with a flourish. "Your turns. But before you begin, I should inform you that I already know certain things about you including some... ah, unusual abilities."

The three of them became panicked then quickly tried to hide it. Illen caught it all as easily as if it were written in plain ink upon their faces.

"Now, now, no need to be shy," he said. "All I need are simple introductions because I can already piece together certain things. Clearly you three are not of this country. How do I know this? Well your outfits, for one thing, are not like anything I have ever seen and I am quite the traveler myself. Could you be from Seven, or Bosco? Or perhaps from Caelum across the sea?" He stroked his beard for a bit before continuing. "Well, it matters not. The only things I want to know are your names and any special abilities you deem necessary to mention. Think of this as a second test. Show me how useful you are to me."

There was a moment of silence before Sasuke finally spoke up. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha," he said. "I'm a ninja-"

"Ninja?" interrupted Illen. "I'm sorry but, what on Earth Land is a ninja?"

"A ninja is... well it's..." Sasuke was at a loss of words to explain. But thankfully, Sakura spoke up for him.

"Ninja are people who have been specially trained to use chakra - or spiritual energy - to empower their special techniques," she said.

"Interesting," said Illen. "So you're like a mage then. You just call yourself something different."

Sakura shook her head. "I-I don't really know what you're talking about."

"Nevermind," Illen waved off. "So all three of you are these... ninjas?" The kids nodded in unison. "Excellent! Just Excellent. And these techniques of yours... what are they? No need for details, just give me a general idea."

"They're different between all of us," said Sasuke. "I'm good with fire and lightning techniques. And my eyes... when I activate them they let me read a person's movements in combat."

"Interesting," Illen repeated. "Very interesting. And you?" He looked directly at Naruto.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," said Naruto. "I can make... physical clones of myself. And I know some wind techniques. Sort of."

"Amazing," exclaimed Illen. "You know, elemental manipulation is quite rare. Are you perhaps, Dragon Slayers? My my, wouldn't that be exciting." Illen perked up an eyebrow as he looked back and forth between Naruto and Sasuke. "I'm curious, though... which of you is stronger? I mean, in a straight up fight."

The two kids looked at one another, hesitating for a bit. Both of them suddenly turned red and pointed their fingers at the third member of their group.

Illen nearly gasped in awe and amazement. "And you are...?"

"Sakura Haruno," answered Sakura. "I can use my chakra to heal people."

Illen looked slightly offended at this. "Healing is rare but come now, child, you expect me to believe that a healer can be stronger than these strapping young lads who wield fire, lightning and wind? I highly doubt that."

Embarrassed, Sakura nervously tangled her fingers together. "Well I, I..." She said something nobody at the table could quite hear.

"Speak up, child. There is nothing to be embarrassed about."

"I use chakra to enhance my strength and endurance," she said sheepishly. "I'm sort of... super-strong."

"She get's angry easily too," added Naruto.

"Shut it, Naruto," she erupted, pounding her first onto the table. The entire house seemed to rumble with it's impact.

"Wonderful!" said a thoroughly amused Illen. "Absolutely wonderful! You three are everything I bargained for and more!"

The three almost-teens stared up warily when Illen suddenly got up and began pacing about. "I have made my decision," he said with a strange finality. "I wish you three to become my apprentices." Then, he paused for a second. Out of nowhere he slammed his palms onto the table and startled everyone, including himself. "My, that was _exhilirating_!" he said. "I don't even have the slightest idea why I did that. But, I must say, it will transition nicely into my first lesson for you all"

"For you see, I am feeling a little peeved at the moment. Angry, even. Do you know why?"

Too nervous to respond, the three of them said nothing.

"Well you see, I've purchased you as slaves for the absurdly exuberant price of a hundred million Jewels and you have lasted as slaves for what... 3 hours? Indeed you would be correct into assuming that I feel slightly ripped off."

"So... for my first lesson I have prepared for you three, just follow me and watch. Take notes if it pleases you. Because when I go out there to collect my refund from these slavers, I will show you that there are much more dangerous and sinister powers out there than those of mere magic. This I will teach you. And this you must learn should you hope to someday face... him."

Interlude - Introductions  
>- END -<p>

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><p><strong>AN:** Thanks for reading. You may have noticed that I gave Sakura her super strength early. I did it so she could be at least equal to Naruto and Sasuke instead of the weakling she was before Shippuden. Also, throughout the story wherever I deem appropriate, I'll throw in interludes to explore Naruto and gangs apprenticeship under Master Illen. If you have any questions, feel free to include them in your reviews.

**Glossary**

Crocus - If you look at a map of Earth Land, Crocus is somewhere in the middle of Fiore and happens to be the capital. It isn't really explored in the manga which I thought was a shame so I included it in my story just for kicks. In my version of the city, things like slavery are very much legal.

Bora (aka Bora-san) - Anyone who has read the Fairy Tail manga should know this guy. He was in the first chapter and tried to impersonate Natsu by calling himself the Salamander. He runs a slave ship and uses charm magic to lure girls in as slaves. Pretty despicable if you ask me.

Hargeon Town - This was where Natsu and Lucy met for the first time. It was the setting of the first chapter of Fairy Tail.

Illen Devon - The name Devon was mentioned somewhere in the first or second chapter of Fairy Tail. One of the Fairy Tail guild members mentioned that Natsu managed to destroy the Devon Thief Family but also destroyed a bunch of property surrounding it. The Illen Devon in my story happens to be the very same head of the Devon Thief Family. It will be explained in more detail later on.

Slaver Contracts - I made this up. Basically, it's an enchantment that can help a slaver keep his slaves under control. The enchantment is broken if the paper contract gets too damaged.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Just to clear up any confusion, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are somewhere around 12-13 years old during the prologue and initial interludes. In the main story, they are somewhere around 17-18 to keep them in line with the other Fairy Tail characters.

Thank you for all your reviews. They are much appreciated.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2 - The Passionate Pink-haired Types<strong>

**- 1 -**

Year X784 - Hargeon Town - Room 13 of the Sunny Fish Inn

The scheme sounded so simple it could be summed up in three words: recruit Lucy Heartfilia. But in reality, it was far from simple. This particular scheme had required weeks of research and planning not to mention all the long and arduous days of preparation and rehearsal. And it was all for this upcoming moment mere hours away. So far everything had gone surprisingly smoothly but everyone involved was still on edge. This was because Phase 2 would mark the culmination of all their hard work. The scheme may have taken weeks to prepare, but it would only take a few seconds for them to win or lose Lucy's trust forever.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura all still sat at the table in their spacious room on the second floor of the Sunny Fish Inn. The room was comfortable and was currently lit by the afternoon sun shining in through two large windows; windows that overlooked the busy streets below.

The chest of supplies that Sakura had prepared earlier had long since been emptied and now served as her glorified footrest as their meeting continued.

"Okay Naruto, let's go over it again just so we're clear," began Sasuke.

"For the thousandth time, I know what I'm supposed to do," Naruto whined. "Go to the slave ship, take out all the slavers, then replace them with my clones." Currently, Naruto's spiky hair was colored pink. The result of some 'Color' magic they had bought at some magic store somewhere. He was also garbed in the disguise that Sakura had prepared for him: a black, orange-trimmed vest with matching mage robe bottoms and a white scarf with what looked like scales painted on it.

"And the stamp," added Sakura. "Make sure you and all of your clones are stamped with this." She pointed to two identical rubber stamps sitting on the table. One of them was for Sasuke. The other was to be used to mark Naruto and his clones with a masterfully forged Fairy Tail insignia."

"Yes, I know."

"And make sure it's somewhere she can see, like on your neck or the back of your hand or something."

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Naruto in his best mocking tone, "I was gonna put one on my left butt cheek and _moon_ her when she arrives."

Sakura frowned. "Naruto, this is serious. I didn't waste a month of my life just to screw this up when it counts."

"I know, I know," said Naruto with a placating gesture. "Just trust me on this one. Have I ever let you guys down before?"

Both Sakura and Sasuke looked to each other, collaborating to come up with some huge screw up of Naruto's in the past. Surprisingly, they couldn't come up with anything. Naruto, despite his brash tendencies, was very good at what he does.

Naruto put on his usual grin, the one that made it so hard for anyone to really doubt him, or be angry at him, or dislike him in any way. "Didn't think so. You guys should just concentrate on your parts in all of this."

Sasuke sighed. "All right then. Sakura, are you clear on your job?"

"Yep," said Sakura. "Mine's easy. What about you?"

"Just try not to hit me too hard when the time comes," said Sasuke. "Make it believable, though."

"Of course," said Sakura, "who do you take me for?"

Sasuke stared down at his own disguise. He hadn't put it on yet but it consisted of a single pair of black and grey boxers. "You're sure about this disguise?"

"Positive," confirmed Sakura, a hungry gleam suddenly growing in her eyes.

Sasuke was still skeptical. "Just these? Nothing else?"

"Just those. Oh, and a stamp on your right chest." Her smile was kind of scary. "I can help you put it on if you'd like."

Sasuke glared at her. "You couldn't come up with anybody else for me to impersonate? Someone less... naked?" Sakura's attempt at an innocent look answered the question for him. "You know I'm going to get you back for this eventually, right?"

She smiled. "Do your worst," she said.

Naruto glanced at a mechanical clock hanging on the wall. "It's almost time, you guys. We should get started."

"Any questions before we go?" asked Sasuke as he stood up from their meeting table. Sakura and Naruto both shook their heads and stood up with him. "Good."

"Oh and Sasuke," said Naruto as he snatched up one of the two rubber stamps sitting on the table.

"What?" came the muffled reply. Sasuke was busying himself with his clothes, taking off his shirt and pants and throwing on the pair of black boxers over top of his own red-cloud design ones. Sakura stared drooling at him through the entire process.

"You know this isn't gonna work, right?" Naruto grinned and tossed the stamp over to Sasuke.

Sasuke grinned back, catching the stamp and marking himself with the Fairy Tail insignia over his chest. "Oh yeah?"

Naruto didn't actually have any doubts about the plan. This was just one of the good luck rituals he performed before each mission. So far it's cost him well over five million Jewels out of his own pocket but hey, it's never failed him yet. "Two hundred thousand Jewels says that by the end of the day, we'll be Lucy-less and you'll be groveling at my feet, apologizing for messing up so badly."

"You're on, punk."

**- 2 -**

Sasuke was the first to leave the room. He left wearing nothing but his disguise-boxers, a long coat over top of it, a hat, and a pair of sunglasses. He looked terribly suspicious.

Naruto was still in the room with Sakura giving him the final pointers on where to stamp the Fairy Tail insignias on his body.

"So _you_ have to put yours on your right arm, just below the shoulder. No, not there. Here, let me do it." Sakura grabbed the stamp from him and punched it into his right arm, perhaps a little more forcefully than necessary.

"Ouch!" complained Naruto. He flinched and as he did, he just happened to catch a glimpse of pink from outside the window. "Whoa! Hey look, Sakura, He's got the same color hair as you. Pink hair is pretty rare, isn't it?"

"Huh?" Sakura casually glanced out the window then turned pale. "Oh god, this can't be happening."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Jeez, it's one other person with pink hair. It's not the end of the world."

"It's him!" said Sakura. "He's here. What is he doing here? He's going to ruin everything!"

Naruto stared back out the window again. The pink-haired person he spotted was far off into the distance, walking casually down the street towards the Inn with some kind of flying cat creature floating beside him. "Huh? What about him?" asked Naruto.

"Are you blind?" replied Sakura. "He's the person you're impersonating right now."

Naruto took the time to glance down at his current outfit, then back out the window. "Oh," he said, dumbfounded. "That's not good."

Sakura began rapidly pacing the room. "If he meets up with Lucy, this whole thing will be all over. What do we do, what we do, what do we DO!" She was suddenly shaking Naruto in panic.

Naruto struggled to get her off. "Can't we just beat him up and hide him or something?"

Sakura pondered this, then shook her head. "It's too risky."

"Is he that strong?" asked Naruto.

"Well, he _is_ a Dragon Slayer but that wasn't my point," said Sakura. "If _you_ fight with him, your disguise would be destroyed. Sasuke isn't here anymore. And _I _sure as hell can't take him out or my relationship with Fairy Tail might get ruined. Plus, we don't have any time to fight with him anyways. Oh god, why here? Why now?"

"Calm down," said Naruto.

"CALM DOWN?" Sakura began pacing the room again, panting. "Calm down. You're right... I need... to calm... down."

"Uh Sakura, are you okay? I'll go bring Sasuke back. You wait here. We'll think of something together."

"No," said Sakura suddenly finding her resolve. She gripped Naruto's shoulders with both hands. "There's no time. If we miss this chance, it'll be all over. You go to the slaver ship like we planned. I'll... I'll handle this."

"Sakura, if we just-"

"Please!"

Naruto looked at her. She had a fierce determination in her eyes. Naruto sighed. "All right. I'll leave it up to you," said Naruto. Then he smiled wryly. "But a hundred thousand Jewels says you'll screw up as badly as Sasuke does."

She grinned back at him. "Five hundred-thousand!"

Naruto frowned. "C'mon, Sakura. I have money but not _that _much money." When she pouted, he sighed again, helpless against her puppy-dog eyes. "Fine, you're on." he finished, no doubt in his mind that by the end of the day, he would be completely broke for the first time in his life since his short stay at Love and Lucky.

**- 3 -**

Approximately two years ago, Illen had sent his three young apprentices on a special kind of mission. They were each to join a famous guild within Fiore as part of their 'magical' and 'moral' education. Not only that, they had to stay at the guild appointed to them for an entire year. Their goal was simply to fit in and learn all they could from the guild they joined. Sasuke was sent over to Blue Pegasus. For some reason, Naruto got stuck with Love and Lucky, a merchant's guild. And Sakura, she was sent for a year to learn from Master Makarov and Fairy Tail. When the year was up, they were all to take some ridiculously long mission that sent them somewhere far away so that they could meet back up with Illen in Crocus.

In truth, Sakura had loved it over at Fairy Tail. She had made a lot of good friends and fit in perfectly with it's slightly eccentric mages. She was reluctant to leave and deep down she knew that Illen probably wouldn't even have cared if she stayed at Fairy Tail or not. But in the end, she loved Naruto and Sasuke more and that was what brought her back to Terrible Consequence after the year was over. She imagined that Sasuke and Naruto had to face similar feelings and, in the end, they returned as well.

The experience, if anything, had deepened the bonds between the three of them. In fact, Sakura had noticed that all of Illen's lessons had this added strange effect of uniting Sasuke, Naruto, and her against all the world around them. The more Illen taught them, the closer they grew, the more they trusted each other, the more smoothly they worked together.

This was why she couldn't screw this up. Naruto and Sasuke both trusted her to do her part and so she definitely would. But that didn't mean she couldn't be nervous about it.

Sakura stood all tensed up on the inside of the entrance to the Sunny Fish Inn. Carefully, she slid open the door just a crack and peered outside. And there she spotted him in the distance, the famous Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail, Natsu Dragneel and his adorable sidekick Happy, respectively walking and flying down the street towards her. She promptly slammed the door closed again, breathing heavily.

The Innkeeper at the reception area eyed her questioningly. "Umm, miss, are you-"

"SHUT UP!" screamed Sakura. He did.

She took in a deep and steady breath and pushed her nervousness aside. Straightening out her orange summer dress, she then allowed herself one final stretch and willed a wave of perfect bratty confidence and arrogance to wash over her very soul. For now, she was no longer the Sakura Haruno of Terrible Consequence. She was back to the Sakura Haruno of Fairy Tail (though truth be told, there wasn't a lot of difference). And _this_ Sakura was out for blood!

**- 4 -**

Naruto left through the back entrance of the Inn, so as not to be spotted by the mage he was currently impersonating. But as he walked, he couldn't help but feel this strange sensation at the back of his mind. It felt like he was being watched. He looked all around himself but aside from some glances from random passing people, he couldn't for the life of him find the reason for the uncomfortable feeling.

"Maybe I'm just hungry," reasoned Naruto to himself. Doing his best to ignore the creepy feeling, he headed towards a nearby convenience shop just across the street. As soon as he entered, the feeling disappeared, confirming his suspicion that indeed, someone was watching him. Since he was in the shop anyways, he bought a cup of instant ramen, had it prepared, then left the shop with it in hand, instantly feeling the 'eyes' back upon him as he stepped out the door. Naruto looked around again but like before, he caught nothing even remotely suspicious. So he just continued on his way, slurping up his ramen as he walked.

On his way to Hargeon Port, where the slaver's yacht resided, Naruto made several stops into different shops and stores. At first, it was just a test to see if he was going crazy or not. Then eventually, it would become a sort of game. If he went into a shop and went out the back door, for example, or if he disguised himself in something, the creepy feeling would disappear temporarily until he walked far enough along the main road towards the port. Naruto did this a total of five times before whoever was watching him caught on and he started to feel the 'eyes' even if he _did_ try something sneaky. After visiting about ten or fifteen shops in total (Naruto had lost count) he gave up on losing the feeling completely and just continued straight towards the port.

When Naruto arrived at the port itself, it was eerily quiet save for the cries of the gulls overhead and the splashing of the waters below. It was odd. The port was normally thriving with life. There should have been several ships being loaded and unloaded at any one time. There should have been laughing children running amok in play, getting scolded by their mothers. There should have been merchants advertising their wares with hoarse voices while customers argued back with slanderous words. But now, there was none of that. Instead, all he got was the same prickling feeling that somebody was watching him.

Shrugging, Naruto stepped out onto the wooden docks towards the single yacht floating in the harbor.

That was about when he heard the maniacal laughter from behind him. Naruto sighed and dutifully turned around.

Sure enough, standing there with a newly buffed head was Bora and behind him were about thirty huge and angry looking men. Some of them cracked their knuckles, some waved around heavy looking clubs, some whipped around chains, and they all had grins far too knowing to be friendly. Arranged rather neatly in a semi-circle around Naruto, they all slowly closed in on him.

"Well, well, well," said Bora menacingly. "What do we have here? I almost didn't recognize you with that pink hair of yours." He laughed again. "Not that it will do you much good once I do to you what _she_ did to me." There was real bitterness in his voice when he mentioned who Naruto assumed to be Sakura.

"Bora," said Naruto, scratching his head. "I thought we told you to... you know... fuck off? You should have listened to us."

"Ooh, big words coming from a dead man," said Bora, feigning shock. "As you can see, you are severely outnumbered, out-armed, and outwitted. And after I deal with you, your friends are next! Especially that pink-haired one. Haha, I'll be sure to _enjoy_ my time with her."

Anger flared deep inside Naruto at what Bora implied. Nobody threatened his friends, especially Sakura, and got away with it. For just a moment, he could feel a dangerous power welling up inside of him and he wanted nothing more than to grab hold of Bora and rip him to bloody shreds, limb from limb. For the third time since he came to this world, he could feel the Kyuubi from within him tearing at whatever kept it locked inside. But Naruto struggled against it. He reminded himself over and over that this anger wasn't his. It wasn't his at all. He brought his hands to his forehead and when he saw his reflection in the water, he saw his eyes flashing back and forth from it's usual blue to the red slits of the demon fox.

It was getting harder to control it. Much harder.

"Haha, what's the matter?" mocked Bora. "Scared you little shit? You should be." He and his men inched ever closer.

Bora's last insult almost got to him. Almost tipped him over the edge. But Naruto finally regained his control and composure. The intense anger within him had disappeared again but just like last time, he was left with a throbbing headache. And the moment he looked up, the glare he gave to Bora and his men chilled them to their very souls. "Damn, that was close," said Naruto. "If _it _came out again... shit, it's scary just thinking about it."

Bora and his men all looked confused. "What the hell are you saying? Are you going mad?"

"Ouch! Just be quiet for a sec will ya? This headache is killing me," said Naruto as he turned around, trying to rub the pain away from his forehead. "Hey you guys, just finish it," he said afterwards, though nobody knew who he was talking to. "And bring them into the ship when you're all done."

Before Bora could even react, he heard the sounds of fists hitting flesh all around him and turned around just in time to catch one to his face himself.

Naruto glanced back just to make sure there weren't any complications. There weren't.

His plan had worked perfectly. Naruto had left two or three pink-haired shadow clones in each of the shops he visited as soon as he realized he was being followed. He gave his clones direct orders to follow his followers, so to speak, and so they did. Now, all of them stood over the unconscious and battered bodies of Bora and his thirty men.

Naruto smiled a cocky smile. "And I didn't even have to use any magic."

"Uh, boss," said one of the clones. "Don't _we_ count as magic?"

Naruto rubbed his forehead again. "I hate you guys sometimes."

**- 5 -**

The door to the Sunny Fish opened loud and wide, revealing Sakura standing there for all the world to see. In this case, the only ones who happened to notice her were Natsu and Happy, both looking equally surprised at the sudden revelation.

Natsu smiled and waved ecstatically.

Sakura, with a single-minded resolve, sprinted towards them.

Happy turned tail and fled the other way.

"SAAKURAAAAAAAA!" shouted out Natsu.

"HAAAAAPYYYYYYYYY!" shouted Sakura in turn.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Happy.

Natsu watched as Sakura sped past him towards Happy, who was flying as fast his little wings could take him down the street. As she passed, Natsu ran after her, flames of excitement literally burning in his eyes. Happy, realizing quickly that Sakura was gaining on him, decided to start flying upward instead of forward. Unfortunately, this brilliant strategy came a little too late and Sakura managed to pounce on the flying cat and snuggle him back to the ground.

"Oh my gawd Happy you're still so cute it's been too long!" said Sakura, rubbing her face against the top of Happy's soft and furry head. Her expression was one of absolute ecstasy. "How come you're still with that brat, Natsu? Why won't you stay with me? I'd love you soooo much."

"SA-KU-RA-LET-GO," said Happy as he struggled in vain to free himself from Sakura's vice-like grip.

"Sakura!" yelled Natsu at the top of his lungs. "I found you! This time I'll beat you for sure. FIGHT MEEEE!"

Sakura instanteously relaxed her snuggle on Happy, allowing him to just barely get away. He flew in the air well above Sakura's reach and stayed there.

"Fight me?" said Sakura, slowly getting up and brushing the dirt and dust off her orange dress. She turned ominously and faced Natsu directly. "Did I hear you right? Did you say, fight me, Natsu?"

Natsu, engulfed entirely by a burning aura of flame backed off ever so slightly when he saw Sakura's terrifying expression. "E-Eh?"

"Don't eh, me, Natsu," she continued, now slowly walking towards him. "We haven't seen each other for what, a whole year..."

"Sa... Sakura?" Natsu was fully backing off away from her now.

"...and the only thing you can think to say is 'Sakura, fight me!'?" With a single lunge, she did a somersault off the ground and connected a drop-kick straight into his face. Natsu went flying back and crashed roughly into the ground a few feet away.

Thanks to the flame aura around him, he was pretty much unharmed. But Sakura still currently scared the crap out of him. He nervously got up. "Sakura, what are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" She frowned and ran towards him again, this time jumping up to throw a knee into his abdomen. Natsu flew back yet again. "That isn't right either, idiot" she scolded. Then she walked up and gripped him by his scarf. "Would it kill you to say 'Oh Sakura, I missed you,' or 'Oh Sakura, we were so worried about you,' or anything other than 'Sakura, fight me'?"

"Worried? About someone like you?" said Natsu under his breath, looking away. Luckily for him, she didn't seem to catch this.

"Hmmmph, so much for our dramatic, heartfelt reunion," said Sakura before finally letting him go. She peeked down at him, though, to make sure he was okay and Natsu beamed up at her.

"Sorry, Sakura," said Natsu. "I just got really excited. We really _did_ miss you, though." He pointed at Happy to indicate who he meant by _we._ "Everyone at the guild misses you too. You should come back soon, if you're not still on that mission. Even the old man is starting to worry."

Sakura's expression finally softened a little. "Natsu, what are you two doing here anyways?"

"We're here to see Igneel," replied Natsu.

"Igneel? You mean that dragon you told me about before? The one that you said was your dad?"

Natsu nodded, full of excitement. "That's him!"

Sakura thought for a moment, wondering if she had seen anything even remotely resembling a dragon during the couple of months they were here in Hargeon Town. Nothing really came to mind. "I've been here for a while, Natsu," she said. "I don't think I've ever seen a dragon."

"Eh?" said Natsu, confused. "But someone from the guild told me that there were sightings of a Salamander in this town. It's gotta be Igneel."

Sakura sighed. "Natsu," she began slowly. "You know dragons and salamanders are different, right? Plus, don't you know that Salamander is another nickname for _you? _"

Natsu's jaw dropped. As did Happy's. Sakura palmed her face.

"So we came all this way for nothing?"

"I'm afraid so," said Sakura. "You two should head back. If you go now, you should be able to catch the afternoon train."

"No way," said Natsu. "Since we're here, we're gonna go sight-seeing. Right, Happy?"

"Aye," replied the flying cat.

"Hey Sakura, why don't you come with us?"

"S-sorry," muttered Sakura. "I have something I need to do." Her mind worked overtime, trying to come up with something to get Natsu to leave town. Unfortunately, her last choice of words were poor ones.

"You mean that mission you're on?" asked Natsu. "Hey! Why don't you let us help you? Happy makes a perfect scout and I'll help you take out all the bad guys!" Natsu swung his flame-coated fists through the air as he suggested this. "Us passionate pink-haired types should really stick together!"

"Umm..." _Not good,_ thought Sakura. _Not good at all._ Then, as she watched Natsu apparently spar with the air, a plan so brilliant and perfect forced it's way into her mind: offer to fight Natsu then beat the living daylights out of him. Okay, maybe her plan wasn't all that brilliant... or perfect. At least it was still a plan. Kind of. Suddenly, she started regretting not taking up Natsu's offer to fight before. Now she had to come up with an excuse to fight him again. And she sucked at making up excuses. Well, whatever. Master Illen had always encouraged them to take risks.

"So Natsu," she began. He stopped his weird imaginary sparring and turned towards her. "You said you wanted to... umm... help right?"

"Yea, totally!" responded Natsu. "You too right, Happy?"

Happy seemed to hesitate a bit before he swooped down back beside Natsu and said, "Aye. But no more hugging. Or snuggling. Or... cuddling." Happy shivered.

"Well..." said Sakura. "I could use the help."

"Yeeeaaaahh!" cheered Natsu and Happy together.

"But on one condition." When Sakura had their rapt attention she continued. "My mission is a super-dangerous one full of... crazy-strong monsters and uhh... lot's of fighting and other... exciting umm... stuff..." She was definitely not good at making things up. But somehow, it looked to her like Natsu and Happy hung on to her every word. She had no idea anybody could be so gullible and almost felt bad for them. Almost. "So... before I can let you help me. I umm... need to test you. Yes, that's it. A test."

Natsu scratched his head. "A test? What kind of test?"

"Fight me, Natsu," she said. "Let's see if you've gotten any stronger since our last one."

This was exactly what Natsu wanted to hear as his entire body erupted into flame once again. "I'm not the same as I was back then," he warned. "This time you'll be the one who'll get beaten up. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

**- 6 -**

On The Train

"Next stop! Hargeon Town."

The announcement rang loud and clear, waking Lucy up from her peaceful slumber. In her arms she clutched the latest copy of Weekly Sorcerer magazine open to a 12-page feature story on the ever popular guild, Fairy Tail. She yawned and stretched herself awake, nodding politely to the attendant that came to remind her that the train was only five minutes away from reaching Hargeon Station. From there, she planned to get off and explore for a bit before catching another train to Magnolia Town.

"Almost there," she mused to herself. "I'm one step closer to the guild of my dreams."

* * *

><p><strong>Interlude - The Other Terrible Consequences<strong>

Year X779 - The Streets of Crocus

Crocus, the 'Crown of Fiore', was a grand city that stood near the heart of the entire kingdom and it's nickname and honor of being Fiore's capital was earned for three reasons.

First, Crocus was where the King of Fiore, himself, resided. In fact, for as long as anyone could remember, Crocus had always been the home for the Kings and Queens who ruled over the land.

Inside the city itself was the royal castle in all it's majesty and opulence. It stood like a veritable fortress that overlooked the entire city from it's center and the castle's main tower, The King's Staff, was clearly visible from anywhere within the city limits as a beacon of wealth, prosperity, and hope for all of Crocus' citizens.

But even the King's Staff, a tower nearly twice as large as the building that housed the National Council, paled in comparison to each the three hundred towers that stood guard around the entire perimeter of the city walls. Appropriately known as The King's Swords, each of the monstrous towers along the city perimeter acted as a barracks that housed all of the men and women of the King's army and the city guard.

If you were to fly high in the skies among the clouds hanging over the sprawling city, you would come to understand the second reason for Crocus' nickname, as well. From above, the entire city looked like a giant crown resting upon the Earth Land.

Throughout the kingdom, Crocus had become a city known for it's royalty, prosperity, and military might. But it would _not_ be the capital of Fiore if it didn't have at least one powerful mage guild to back it. So the third and most well known reason for Crocus' monniker was the single mage guild that dwelled within it's walls: Phoenix Crown.

Simply put, Phoenix Crown was the most notorious mage guild in all of Fiore. Even Fairy Tail came a distant second in notoriety to Phoenix Crown. Membership into the guild had to be earned through incredible magic power, ludicrous wealth, _and_ exceptional beauty. The result was a guild that was as vain and exclusive as it was powerful in magic. And there was never any doubt to it's power. Even the Mage Council stated that despite it's much smaller size, it's power rivaled that of Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord. It had been theorized by popular scholars that should all the mage guilds in Fiore go to war with one another, the sheer amount of power, wealth, and influence commanded by Phoenix Crown would bring it out on top by far.

And so as they walked through the bustling streets of Crocus, Illen took the time to explain all of this to his new apprentices. He made sure that they understood how Phoenix Crown was the guild that was responsible for their slavery and that it was the guild that he was now going to completely and utterly destroy in order to collect his refund (with interest, of course).

"So, my new and shiny apprentices," said Illen before he reconsidered his words. "Well, maybe not shiny yet. Remind me to have you all bathed and appropriately dressed after we are done. But I digress, did you three have any questions regarding our current little field trip?"

"How!" asked Naruto, right off the bat. Just barely did he resist the urge to add 'you loony old man' to the question. "If this Phoenix Crown guild or whatever is nearly as strong as you say they are, how are you going to take them out by yourself?"

Illen made a face as he continued leading them down the crowded street. "By myself? Oh heaven's no! I never said I would be doing this all by myself, did I? Such a thing would be impossible, my boy."

Sasuke spoke up next. "But you said we would just be watching, didn't you?"

"Indeed I did," answered Illen. "And so you shall."

Sakura asked the obvious question that came next. "So there are going to be others working with you then?"

"Of course," answered Illen cheerfully, "two others, in fact."

"Only two? You really are a crazy old man," said Naruto, then added to his friends, "I told you we're going to die."

"That's 'Master Illen' to you, my boy," warned Illen as the group approached what looked like an aging tavern. "And you all shall be very much alive when we are through, I assure you. Now..." The four of them stopped at the door of a tavern named Luckless and Illen turned around to face them. "Wait here for just a moment. I need to make sure we will be in decent company."

Compliant, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura sat on the steps as Illen disappeared inside. At first, all was quiet. The quiet was soon followed by some muffled conversation. The conversation quickly escalated to something that sounded like a muffled argument then all of a sudden, loud and continuous crashing could be heard from inside. There was more yelling, shouting, crashing, and clanging, all of it muffled, of course, until finally it all subsided into a whisper of footsteps heading back towards the door.

The kids got up and just as they expected, the door opened and Illen greeted them.

"Ah, sorry for the wait, children," he said, motioning them inside. "Come in, come in. I'd like for you all to meet my friends."

The inside of the tavern was a mess, though none of the kids were quite sure as to why they were surprised by this. To their right was a man who they assumed as the tavern keeper, idly shaking his bald head as he polished a glass behind a long counter seated with stools.

To their left was what could only be described as The Apocalypse if such a thing were confined to only half of a tavern. It looked like a mixture of splintered chunks of wood and burning, liberally sprinkled with shattered glass and splotches of blood. Whose blood they could only guess at.

Illen, himself, took his seat at a single, perfectly unharmed, table at the heart of the tavern. On one side of him sat a huge, gaunt-faced man of round rippling muscle. On the other side, a brown curled beauty sporting an over-sized plated eye patch covering her right eye. For a moment, the three of them really did look like best of friends as they sat there oblivious to all the destruction around them.

"Now let me introduce you to Brutus and Beatrix, the other members of Terrible Consequence," said Illen when his three apprentices hesitantly took their seats across from him. "They will be the ones helping me on this task."

The kids first stared at Brutus. He was round, almost pudgy, but huge. And strangely enough, impeccably dressed, just like Illen, in a finely tailored black suit. When he suddenly glared at the three of them, the combination of his ugly face and his frown full of crooked teeth made them more than happy to switch their stares over to the person on the other side of Illen.

Beatrix also glared but it wasn't nearly as menacing as Brutus'. The single piercing eye they could see was blue and was framed nicely by her curling hair that was the color of almond butter. Her outfit was mostly white and didn't do much to hide her curvy figure. She also wore what looked like heavy plated gauntlets on each of her hands.

"On this mission, you will each be shadowing one of us," said Illen. The three kids blinked blankly in response.

"Oh, don't give me that look. This will merely be the start of your brilliant and thorough education as members of Terrible Consequence. You see, each of you have strengths that need to be enhanced and encouraged along with weaknesses that need to be to overcome. And so to start off, we will be the ones to teach you."

Both Beatrix and Brutus glared at this.

"Don't mind them. They're just a little bitter that they lost our little... argument. They'll come around."

More glaring ensued.

"Fine then! If you two are going to be that way I will skip straight to our assignments."

Pondering, pondering, Illen thought for a moment as his eyes wandered first to Sakura. "You, girl, are special. Gifted with strength and I'm sure once you're old enough, beauty as well. Such things are dangerous in the wrong hands. _No_, such things will be dangerous in _your_ hands once we are through with you. Now, there is only one person here who I can think of to help you with such gifts. So Sakura, you will be shadowing..."

Illen looked to each of the companions at his sides. "Brutus," he finished.

Everyone except Illen seemed surprised by this.

"Brutus, you will teach Sakura all you know on the delicate and interesting art of... what is it that you called your art again, Brutus?"

In a snarl that didn't betray his looks. Brutus yelled out, "BRUTUS SMAAAAAAASH!" as little flecks of spit sprayed out from his mouth onto the table in front of them all.

"Yes, yes, wonderful," nodded Illen. "The delicate and interesting art of smashing. Learn it well, young Sakura. But between you and me, be sure to take your beauty advice from Beatrix unless you want to look like your smashing new mentor."

Brutus repeatedly thumped his fists into the table. "BRUTUS TEEEEAAAAACH!"

Sakura's heart sunk.

"As for you, Naruto," continued Illen, "Clearly you are as loud as you are obnoxious and you don't seem to be terribly clever either-"

"Hey!"

"Let's see if we can't beat some brains and sublety into that thick skull of yours, shall we? Beatrix, I shall leave him in your capable hands."

Naruto had, just then, decided that he didn't like Illen at all. Not one bit. And Beatrix didn't seem to react to Illen's order at all.

"So that leaves little Sasuke under my care." Illen grinned his creepy wide grin again. "And oh the terrible, terrible things _you_ shall learn, my boy."

For the second time in his life, Sasuke felt truly afraid.

Interlude - The Other Terrible Consequences  
>- END -<p>

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Once again, thank you for reading. Any questions or concerns, please add them to your reviews.

So you may have noticed a few things about this chapter. Allow me to explain:

First of all, my goal is to make Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all strong without being overpowered. In my opinion, giving them their own unique strengths and weaknesses creates a more interesting and dynamic story overall than having insanely overpowered main characters. As for how strong they are compared to the Fairy Tail cast... I'll let the story show that.

Also, I haven't really decided on any pairings yet. There were a couple spots in this chapter where I could have easily added some NaruSaku moments or SasuSaku or even SakuNatsu. But I avoided them all like the plague. What do you guys think the pairings should be? Keep in mind that all the major characters in Fairy Tail will eventually make an appearance into the story and most of them will play a major role in the overarching plot that I have yet to introduce.

**Glossary**

Beatrix - A cameo from FF9 as one reader/reviewer has already caught on. I could have made another OC here but then I got lazy and Beatrix happened to have all the traits that I needed in a character so I thought 'hey why not?' I'm having her connected to one other character as well but that's fairly minor surprise for another chapter.**  
><strong>

Brutus - An OC. I needed a generic brute type character in the story so here he is. **  
><strong>

Crocus (updated) - My description of Crocus is completely made up since it was never really seen or heard from in the manga or anime. Also, there was a small typo when I first released the chapter. There are 300 towers along the perimeter of Crocus, not just 30. Magnolia Town has a population of around 60,000 and in my story, Crocus is at least twice the size of Magnolia.

Phoenix Crown - Another guild I made up. The name wasn't too important so I just picked something that had 'Crown' in the name. I was thinking FF9 when I put Beatrix in the story and at the same time I thought 'hey, Phoenix Down can be... Phoenix Crown and it sounds like a decent guild name too! Score!'


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Writing a fanfic is way harder than it looks, especially a fanfic like this one that doesn't exactly follow canon at all.

Hope you enjoy it though.

_Chapter slightly revised and updated on December 14th_

* * *

><p><em>"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry"<br>_- Adapted from "To a Mouse," by Robert Burns

**Chapter 2.5 - How it was Supposed to Be  
><strong>

Those in Terrible Consequence who didn't happen to be named Sasuke Uchiha, often wondered how the plan to recruit Lucy Heartfilia came to be. Sakura assumed it was well thought-out brilliance. Naruto claimed, matter of factly, that it was all thanks to Sasuke's stupid looking stupidness. The truth would disappoint the both of them.

It was a sad love-child of a plan born from the specific need to recruit a Celestial Spirit Mage into Terrible Consequence (upon Illen's strange request) and Sasuke's lackadaisical method of choosing one. _Really_ lackadaisical. In fact, the choice only took a few seconds.

First, he was given a list of five names, all Spirit Mages: Angel, Duke Everlue, Karen Lilica, Lucy Heartfilia, and Zoldeo and crossed off both Angel and Zoldeo right off the bat simply because their names sounded too weird for his taste. After all, having a guy in the guild named Naruto was bad enough as it is. Then, he crossed off Duke Everlue because _that_ name sounded particularily old, rich, and preachy. Who needed another Master Illen? So that left only two names on the list: Lucy and Karen. And since one of them was dead and nobody in the guild had a gift for necromancy, the decision was practically already made for him. Still, he would have preferred Karen. The coin he flipped said so.

In any case, that was how the inital plan of recruiting Lucy came to be. All his best plans started out similarly; with his trademark 'I don't really give a shit' attitude.

The plan got a little more complicated along the way, of course. Now it had become more of an elaborate scheme to make Lucy hate Fairy Tail and fall in love with Terrible Consequence instead.

The Hargeon Town portion of the plan was supposed to go something like this:

Sakura, as a member of Terrible Consequence, would befriend Lucy and guide her around town, eventually leading Lucy over to where Sasuke waited in ambush.

Sasuke, who would be disguised as a recognizable member of Fairy Tail, would attempt to scare or disgust Lucy, either through lecherously hitting on her or fighting against her will. It didn't really matter which because the point was to plant a seed of doubt in her mind regarding the popular guild.

After Sasuke made his move, Sakura would step in and 'save' Lucy from the fake and 'evil' Fairy Tail member, earning Terrible Consequence some points. This would also have the added benefit of developing Lucy's trust towards Sakura. Using this trust, Sakura would console Lucy and tell her about a ship full of Fairy Tail members. Sakura would say something like 'they probably aren't all bad,' or something like that and lead her to the ship to meet the rest of the guild and prove it to her.

Of course, the ship, a slaver ship, would be taken over by Naruto and his clones. They would all be disguised as members of Fairy Tail, members who abused magic to take advantage of all the women and slaves aboard the ship. Lucy would arrive on the ship and see for herself that Fairy Tail is nothing short of despicable. Then, to add insult to injury, Naruto would 'enslave' both Lucy and Sakura.

Finally, to seal the deal, an undisguised Sasuke would appear out of nowhere and 'save the day' so to speak, earning Lucy's undying gratitude... or something like that.

Everything that came afterwards was moot.

That was it. That was their grand plan in a nutshell. Make Fairy Tail look like crap while making Terrible Consequence look like the best guild in the world by comparison. It was supposed to be a piece of cake. A done deal. A foregone conclusion. But you know what they say about mice and men and the best-laid plans.

They simply should have known better.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3 - The Best-laid Plans<strong>

**- 1 -**

Year X784 - Streets of Hargeon Town

"Why is it so hot here?" complained Lucy to nobody in particular as she slogged through the streets of Hargeon Town, ever forward and ever onward towards the town's only magic shop where she hoped to find some Celestial Spirit Keys for sale.

She wiped the little bit of sweat that was accumulating on her brow and wondered if there was anything else she could do to keep cool. She had already tried fanning herself with her copy of Weekly Sorcerer in one hand and a map of Hargeon Town in the other. This accomplished little but making her arms sore. She had also tried staying in the shadows as she walked, which helped a bit, but there was nowhere near enough shade anywhere along her path. Finally, she tried loitering in random air-conditioned shops. Unfortunately, she would only be inside for so long until the owners pressured her into buying something and since she couldn't afford to waste any of the precious Jewels she had left, she always got kicked out.

So Lucy just kept walking, content with her last resort of partially unzipping her white and blue sleeveless shirt. It kept her cooler than she thought it would but it also happened to reveal a scandalous amount of her cleavage. This earned her plenty of gawks and stares and wolf whistling as she passed men on her way to the magic shop. But to her, it was a price worth paying for in this ridiculous weather. Besides, she would never admit it out loud but, she liked all the attention. It was flattering and she was proud of her looks.

However, it wasn't long before the heat took it's toll. Lucy suddenly decided that she had enough and needed a respite. Catching sight of a nearby bench sitting comfortably underneath the shade of a tree, she ran to it and claimed it as her own; collapsing onto it as if it were one of the lavish couches from her home, bestowed to her by the celestial spirit realm itself.

Except it wasn't.

Where her couches were soft, the wooden bench was hard. Where her couches were comfortable and surrounded by familiarity, the bench hurt a little at first and and overlooked nothing but passing strangers. It was always the little things that made her somewhat homesick. She missed her room, her servants, her... family. Her mind momentarily flirted with doubt. Maybe she had been too harsh on her father. Maybe leaving so suddenly wasn't the best course of action. Maybe her father _did_ know what was best. Besides, was it _his_ fault that mother died? Was it _his_ fault that he had become more distant with each day that passed, more enthralled with work than his... his very own daughter.

Lucy shook her head. All doubt fading away from her like a bad dream. Her father loved his work more than he loved her. That was the truth of what she saw. He was even willing to marry her off to some ugly, perverted, pig-headed noble's son off at some distant kingdom. All for what? To expand the Heartfilia empire? What a jerk. Her mother would never have allowed it. If mother were here... if she were still alive... It hurt. It really hurt; all the memories of her mother, but Lucy tucked the feelings back inside, deeper this time. When they say ignorance is bliss, they were right.

She opened her copy of Weekly Sorcerer, idly flipping through the pages in an attempt to get her mind off of things. It wasn't until she reached the special on Fairy Tail that she forgot all about her homesickness and became excited again. She read the article for the fourth time today, getting lost in the absurdity of it all. Salamander, who destroyed the Devon Thief family, also happened to destroy seven innocent neighboring households at the same time. And the story of Gray Fullbuster, who was sighted walking around nearly naked after his mission, only to get caught stealing clothes when he tried to correct this indecent exposure.

She couldn't help but laugh. _This_ was the guild she wanted more than anything to join. It wasn't because it was the biggest, most popular guild in all of Fiore. It was more than that. It was the indescribable sense of fun and adventure that Fairy Tail had in droves. She wanted fun and adventure. An escape from her boring life and oppressive father. She wanted to go out there on her own. To explore, to experience all the exciting things Fiore had in store for her; to make wonderful lifelong friends and maybe... maybe even fall in love?

She blushed. '_Easy Lucy, one step at a time',_ she thought_. _In short, she wanted to play the main role in her very own personal fairy tale. And like it's namesake suggested to her, Fairy Tail was the perfect guild to make it happen.

A scream nearby woke Lucy up from her reverie. It sounded something like, "Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa, pervert!" When she looked over in it's direction, she saw about six or seven spectators looking towards an alleyway maybe half a block away. Lucy considered heading over to see what the commotion was all about but then decided against it. With that many people there, any pervert would be quickly driven off or apprehended. Being a girl herself, she knew first-hand the dangers that seemed to follow her everywhere. There were too many lecherous men out there. That's why she always carried around her whip and Celestial Spirit keys at her side. A girl can never be too safe.

Going back to her magazine, she flipped past the article on Fairy Tail for the first time and read the next entry: Weekly Sorcerer's 'Mage I'd Like as a Boyfriend' ranking. She wasn't really interested in the article itself but she liked looking at the pictures. Some of the guys in there were incredibly gorgeous. Too bad for them Lucy wasn't shallow enough to judge someone by appearance alone. The usuals were there in the top portion of the list: Loki, Hibiki Laytis, Eve Thylm, and Ren Akatsuki along with a bunch of others. She glanced down the familiar list until her eyes stopped at number nine.

'_Hmmm, he's new,'_ she thought, '_Kinda cute, too.'_ Looking at his information, she found out he was mage from Blue Pegasus. '_Big surprise there,'_ she thought sarcastically. Blue Pegasus was a predominately female guild but pretty much all of the guys who joined were pretty boys.

From his description, he was a man that would _'jump-start your heart'_ with his lightning based magic while his fire magic left you _'burning with passion'_. Lucy fell into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. _'Who the hell writes this stuff anyways?'_ When she recovered, she took a closer look at his face. Where everyone else held smiles or sexy poses, Mr. Number Nine just seemed to kind of sit there, arms folded, and glared at her through the picture. It was like he didn't want to be there. Still, there was something dark and dangerous behind that raven hair and those onyx eyes. A mysterious sort of charm she didn't see in any of the others. She kind of liked it.

Then, finally, she looked at the name, Sasuke Uchiha, and wondered what he would be like in person.

**- 2 -**

If there was any place that was hotter than the blazing infernos of Hell, Sasuke figured it was probably right here in Hargeon Town during one of it's scorching summer afternoons. The sun in the sky was like some kind of sweltering, vengeful deity getting it's kicks by torturing the denizens down below. Even at his current location, a shaded junk-filled alleyway between two nondescript buildings (the ambush spot in their plan), the heat was almost too much for him to bear.

'Burn, burn, _burn_, AHAHAHAHAHA!' was what Sasuke imagined the Sun to be saying at this very moment. 'And why don't you take off your clothes, while you're at it? Let me scorch that beautiful body of yours." The sun in his mind sounded suspiciously like a hormone-induced Sakura.

Sasuke breathed a sigh and began unbuttoning his long overcoat. Horny imaginary sun-voice or not, it did have a point. The heat was killing him and plus, it was almost time to carry out the plan. Lucy was surely out of Hargeon Station by now and so he had to be appropriately under-dressed by the time Sakura gave the signal. Besides, he suspected that his outer outfit: a hat, sunglasses, and a long overcoat, was the reason behind all the people sporadically approaching him for illegal magic earlier; it was getting annoying.

So Sasuke threw off his coat and hat. He kept the sunglasses on, though, because the sun hurt his eyes and his Sharingan was precious.

But as he stood there, wearing nothing but his sunglasses and a pair boxers (well, two actually) a strange sensation hit him. He felt oddly... free? The soft warm breeze that brushed against his bare flesh felt truly invigorating. It made the heat feel almost welcome against his skin. He looked to the openings on either side of the alley, feeling a strange and inexplicable rush of adrenaline as he did. He watched people pass by in their 'clothes.' They were fools. Why wear clothes at all in this burning weather? Are they all insane? Had Hargeon Town gone mad? Clothing is so stupid, so pointless, so ridiculous, so... so contrived.

Those were the thoughts running through his head until a high-pitched voice screamed out, "Kyaaaaaa! Pervert!"

The scream broke Sasuke free from the odd disorientation that he experienced. Regaining his senses, he shooed the girl away, along with the half-dozen other onlookers that either blushed, gaped, or shook their heads in disapproval at him. When they finally left him alone, he hid amidst a bunch of empty boxes and crates so to attract less attention to himself, though the rush and excitement of his near nudity never went away.

"Ugh, what the hell is wrong with me?" he chided himself. Was he perhaps some kind of freaky... nudist? _No._ The heat was definitely getting to him. That was _his_ excuse, anyways, and anyone who said otherwise would get a Sharingan-guided Chidori straight to the face.

So Sasuke crouched down and looked to the sky, impatiently waiting for Sakura's signal. He hoped she would come soon. Very soon. Because right now, even his boxers felt profoundly irritating against his skin and he wanted nothing more than to be comfortably naked.

**- 3 -**

Back near the Sunny Fish Inn, Sakura was feeling an altogether different sort of heat. Natsu was on the offensive again, swinging at her with his flame-coated fist. The tendrils of fire licked at her cheek and shoulder as she dodged his straightforward attack. When she ducked below his second Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, another attack was already there; a burning knee accelerating towards her face. She threw back her head instantly and flung her entire body with it, using the momentum to flip backwards in a sort of dolphin kick that managed to catch Natsu's chin. She felt him rise up with the kick, predicting that he would also be thrown backwards and back onto the ground. When Sakura landed again, she saw that her prediction was right on the money and he laid on the ground groaning a little.

Up on a nearby rooftop, Happy worried, cheered, and offered words of encouragement. But only for Natsu. "Come on, Natsu," he said. "Get up. Don't give up! Only you can save me from the Pink Devil Lady!"

Sakura glared up indignantly. Pink Devil Lady? Oh the things she would do to Happy if he weren't so damn soft and fluffy and adorable. Actually, they were the very same things she already _did_ do to him because he _was _soft, fluffy, and adorable. Who knew?

"You're gonna pay for that!" screamed Natsu as he jumped back to his feet afterwards. He didn't seem deterred by her last attack in the least.

Sakura noted that Natsu was much stronger and faster than in their last fight a year ago. And somehow he had become especially durable to pretty much all forms of physical attack. This was definitely a troublesome fight to get into. She increased the amount of chakra going to her muscles, now fighting at roughly twenty-five percent of her maximum strength.

Natsu, engulfed entirely by flame once again, rushed at her at his top speed. Sakura recognized the attack as his Fire Dragon's Sword Horn. She barely had time to blink but somehow her reflexes had allowed her to bring her arms up and brace herself just in time to block the full force of the attack. The ground at her feet cracked and seemed to split open a bit when the attack hit. And her arms felt like someone smashed it hard with a hammer. But she held her ground. This surprised Natsu enough for Sakura to simply twist out of her block and into a straight chakra powered punch directly into his face. He flew back much farther than she anticipated and she wondered if maybe she put a little too much power into that punch of hers.

When he finally crashed into a wall of a building several feet away, it crumbled and caved inwards a little. This time Natsu was visibly shaken. Maybe now he figured he was over matched.

"Yeah, right," thought Sakura aloud. "Natsu? Give up?" That was about as likely him leaving Fairy Tail to be a sailor or something. He'd throw up just thinking about it. So she sighed and prepared for his eventual counter attack.

All of a sudden, sirens in the distance sounded. She looked towards the source of the sound and noticed that smoke was rising into the air from the location a couple blocks away.

"Fire, fire!" screamed some panicked voices. "Fire at Halibut Avenue."

"Halibut Avenue?" said someone else. "Oh god! Not Halibut Avenue!"

"Run for your lives!" yelled another.

All of a sudden, the streets were filled with Hargeon Town residents fleeing from the source of the fire. It was kind of strange.

"Hey Natsu," said Sakura. "Maybe we should move-" she looked to where Natsu was supposed to be recovering, only to find that he had disappeared. "Umm, Natsu?" This time she peered towards Happy who whistled innocently and looked away. Suspicious.

"It's the Salmander!" cried out a voice near the burning building.

"Amazing, he's devouring the fire!"

"He's come to save us all," cheered another.

Sakura smacked her forehead and ran towards the burning building. Unfortunately for her, by the time she arrived, Natsu had already 'eaten' all the fire that was supposed to be consuming the building. He stood on top of the roof of the charred five story apartment, ignoring all the cheering happening all around him. Clearly powered up, Natsu cracked an evil grin at her.

"I've got you now, Sakura!" he proclaimed, the aura of fire engulfing him burned ever brighter. He took in a deep breath, putting his hands in front of his mouth. **"Fire Dragon's..."**

Sakura braced herself.

**"ROOOAAAAAAR!"**

The streaming torrent of flame came at her way faster than she expected. It was like a laser beam of pure fire that simply smashed into her chest, knocking the air out of her and throwing her body viciously into the ground. The cobblestones exploded into a searing cloud of dirt and crushed rock all around her when she crashed into them. The heat was so intense that the only thing keeping her from being burned alive was the chakra infused into every cell of her body.

Sakura coughed and sputtered, somehow getting to her feet and jumping away just before another of Natsu's roars crashed into the ground beside her, turning the spot into a shallow smoldering crater of molten rock. The crowd that had been cheering at Natsu before had now all started to panic and scream hysterically again.

"Run!"

"He's not here to save us. He's going to kill us all!"

_'Damn that brat,'_ thought Sakura. _'Forcing me to use this much power.'_ She infused even more chakra into the cells of her body, this time reaching approximately fifty percent of her maximum strength.

**"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAAAR!"**

Upon the roof, Natsu continued shooting roar after roar after roar at her as if he were some kind of flaming turret but this time she dodged his attacks easily. She sidestepped one beam of fire, jumped over another, then slid under the next, getting closer to the building with every roar she dodged. The chakra she put into her muscles not only enhanced her strength and endurance, but also her speed and reflexes as well. Approaching the base of the building, she jumped at him, jumped three stories into the air, infusing chakra into her feet to run vertically the rest of the way up along the wall. When she got to the rooftop seconds later, she managed to catch a surprised Natsu right before he finished his next roar and jump-kicked his stomach in. The attack forced him to practically vomit out all the fire he was building up for his last roar as he flew backward and crashed _through_ the walls of another, taller building nearby.

Natsu's vomited fire washed all over her and the rooftop. It was hot but she held out thanks to her chakra again, brushing off the fire from her clothes like how a person would brush off dust or lint. She was surprised at how her orange dress was still perfectly intact. It was a wonder how they didn't just burn off of her, leaving her completely naked...

She blushed at the thought, then shrugged. _'Oh well, doesn't really matter.'_

The rooftop wasn't so lucky, though, and the apartment complex had caught fire again. Sakura ignored it, for the most part, knowing that Natsu couldn't eat his own fire. But then she looked towards the neighboring building he crashed into and groaned. Somehow, _that _entire building caught fire as well. _'What the hell happened there?'_ she thought. '_Natsu would never purposely set a building on fire. He can't eat the fire if he did.'_

The sign on the building read: Parchment Paradise, and it looked as if all the people within it had already evacuated beforehand. In fact, the entire district seemed to be mostly desolate now. People had been running away scared at the merest hint of fire ever since it started. Sakura thought it was a little strange. She expected people to evacuate from the fire but the way _those_ people ran. It was like the entire district would blow up or something. It was silly.

Or was it?

Sakura came to a realization and looked around herself at all the surrounding buildings, reading off the signs as she did: Hargeon Town Librarium, Peter's Papers (which claimed better prices than Parchment Paradise), Giles' Gunpowder Emporium, Oils 'N Things, Flynn's Flammables. What the hell did they sell at Flynn's Flammables? And the store beside it... Explodia? She didn't even want to _think_ about _that_ one. The entire area was set up like some kind of ticking time bomb. If the entire district blew up, Natsu would probably gain something like, unlimited power for a while.

Sakura's eye caught a tuft of blue flying out a window of the newly burning Parchment Paradise; a mischievous look upon his feline face. And was that... _it was! _That damned cat had a box of matches in his hands. That damned, sweet, lovable, fluffy, and cute flying blue embodiment of adorableness. Clearly it was Happy that was flying around like a pyromaniac helping Natsu power up with fire, she had to stop him.

Sakura leaped with all her might at Happy who for some reason only just noticed her.

"Noooo!" screamed Happy, seemingly in slow motion.

She caught him in her arms, slapping away his box of matches and wrestled with the poor creature. Coincidentally, she found some rope in Happy's small bag and used it to bind him. Now fully restrained and wailing with all his might, Happy looked distraught as Sakura added a bit more rope, forming two loose straps that turned Happy into some kind of makeshift squirming blue backpack. Sakura gladly wore Happy on her back ignoring all the cries and kicking that came with him.

With Happy mostly out of the way, she leaped into the burning Parchment Paradise building where Natsu was currently in. The fires inside had already died down, mostly because Natsu had been eating it all. In fact, when she spotted him, he was still in the middle of his meal, literally grabbing flames and embers and throwing them into his mouth.

"You cheaters!" accused Sakura, pointing at him and referring to the blue cat tied at her back as well.

"Ahhm's fmaaiir imm Mmwaar," retorted Natsu with his mouth full. She figured he meant to say 'All's fair in war.'

"And love," added Happy at her back.

"Uggh, you guys are jerks!" Slightly enraged, Sakura rushed at him full-speed, chakra fists at the ready, fully intending to throw him out of the building before he could eat anymore fire. She managed to hit Natsu once, then twice, before his guard was up. But when she followed up with a round-house kick to his solar plexus, he caught it easily with his newly found insane strength. '_Damnit, how much fire did he eat?'_ He gripped her thigh with both hands, and Sakura was unable to free herself or even move all that much.

"Got you now, Sakura," said Natsu with a look of perfect smarmy confidence. **"Fire Dragon's INFERNO!" **he yelled.

Sakura vision became a blur of orange and red and burning. In fact, she was pretty sure her entire body was on fire right now. At the very least, her arms and the leg that Natsu still held on to was completely engulfed by flame. It was hot, almost unbearably so. She could feel that the chakra protecting her skin from getting burned was starting to give in to the intense heat. Before that could happen, she willed even more chakra into her cells, powering up to 75% of her maximum power now. And even then she couldn't free herself from his grasp. She was worried about Happy too, but was relieved to see that the rope holding him to her had burned off completely and he flew above Natsu, completely on fire but strangely, completely unharmed.

Maybe Natsu had gained some subconscious control over what his fire burned and didn't burn? Whatever, she didn't have much time to think about it right now.

Without warning, Natsu lifted her by her leg and threw her. Actually, it was more like he tossed her, still burning and everything, at one of the walls of the building. The wall gave in when her body was smashed against it and she fell nearly five stories down, crashing into the cobblestones below, all the while still feeling the searing heat from the fire that wholly engulfed her. Her chakra still held the heat at bay though and like before, she managed to brush and shake the fire off of herself. Immediately afterward, she frantically looked around for a way out of the damned explosive district.

She could hear Natsu laughing manically from above, probably high off the thought of his impending victory.

So Sakura took the opportunity to run. She simply sprinted away from Halibut Avenue.

"Natsu, stop laughing," said Happy. "Quick, she's getting away. You gotta catch her!"

"I told you I would finally beat you!" exclaimed Natsu as his legs caught fire and he ran after her at blazing speed. "Who's S-class now?"

Sakura was fast. Really fast. Probably as fast as Naruto and Sasuke and they could each outrun a speeding train if they wanted to. But this super-powered up Natsu was keeping up with her pace pretty easily. Sakura turned a corner, zipping through confused and shocked onlookers through the street. Then she turned another corner, gaining even more speed. Finally, she saw her destination, an abandoned warehouse practically in the middle of nowhere. There was no way Natsu could power up again in there. So she rushed towards it, Natsu very close behind.

She took a quick glance at the broken wooden sign hanging over the door. It read: The World... The other half was broken off. '_The world? It's probably supposed to say 'The World of... something' _Whatever, Sakura didn't care, she just smashed the door in and waited for Natsu to follow her inside.

It was dark and gloomy in the abandoned warehouse until Natsu came in, all glowy and fired up. It created a strangely moody atmosphere. Happy was nowhere to be seen so Sakura just assumed that he was still trying to catch up. All around them were boxes upon boxes of something. Sakura had no idea what, nor did it really matter. She concentrated on the opponent in front of her.

Natsu though, was curious, for some reason. He opened up a random box that was sitting beside him and peered at what was inside. His eyes lit up and he grinned evilly.

"Ummm," said Sakura, curiosity getting the better of her. "What's up with that look? What's in the box?"

"Oh, nothing," he said, spitting some fire into it. "Heh, heh, heh."

Sakura's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Are you trying to destroy what's inside or someth-"

The box erupted into one of the loudest and weirdest explosions she had ever heard. There was a lot of whistling then loud booming then her vision was filled with rainbow colored blindness. Fireworks. That's what was in the boxes. Fireworks.

**"Fire Dragon's Inferno!"**yelled Natsu again while Sakura took cover. The hundreds of boxes of fireworks scattered and piled all around them seemed to go off all at once, filling the entire warehouse with deafening noise and rainbow brilliance the likes of which had never been seen before. The roof of the warehouse consequently gave out, releasing plenty of fireworks into the Hargeon sky. And Natsu, when Sakura dared to peek at him, was actually _eating_ as much of the colorful explosions as he could. _'What the hell,'_ thought Sakura. _'He can eat _fireworks?"

The exploding went on for what must have been a good five or six minutes before it died down. And when it was all over, Sakura gingerly got up. The warehouse was in complete shambles. Everything was burnt or charred or broken. She didn't think there was a single box of fireworks in the place that hadn't already gone off. And Natsu was in the middle of it all, finished with his latest meal.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH," growled Natsu. He was in some kind of meditative stance, legs spread wide with his fists curled up at his waist. The aura surrounding him had become some kind of rainbow spectrum of fire, cracking and melting the ground all around him with it's extreme heat and pressure. Then, without so much as a warning he yelled out, "SAKURAIWILLBEATYOU!" all at once as his rainbow aura exploded out like an equally colorful nova of flame.

The blast hit Sakura hard but she stood her ground. Her chakra gave in slightly and she could feel the burns stinging across her skin all over her body. When the nova passed, Sakura saw Natsu in a new light. He looked different. Angrier. And pretty scary, to be honest. His spiky hair looked a bit longer and stood straight up on end, now a little more golden yellow than pink. Little colorful crackles of electricity jumped and snaked all around him.

And the pressure! His power level... surely it had to be... well... over something like nine-thousand! Had Natsu finally achieved the impossible? Had he reached the ultimate power known only as the Super Dragon Slayer she read about in a fantasy book somewhere?

"This is it, Sakura," growled Natsu. "No more games. No more running away. I'm gonna end this right here right now with my final attack! I'm gonna prove to you that I'm stronger!"

Sakura sighed. Somehow this just all seemed too ridiculously cliched. Whatever, she went with it. She powered the last of her chakra into her muscles, reaching the full 100% of her maximum strength. Natsu was right. It was time to end this. "Bring it, Natsu!"

But just as she was about to charge at him, Natsu yelled "WAIT!"

"What?" complained Sakura annoyed at being stopped mid-stride.

He pointed at her accusingly. "You're supposed to power up like me," he lectured. "You're supposed to put all your power into your last move or it won't be fair!"

Sakura's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" She _was_ putting all her power into this final attack. Just because her moves weren't nearly as flashy as his doesn't mean... hmmmph, she'd show him. "Fine! Watch this!"

Jumping into the air and seemingly hovering for an impossibly long time, she twisted and twirled, round and round, using color magic to change the color of her dress to pink and the color of her hair to match Natsu's golden yellow. Then, using some extremely basic requip magic she had learned from Erza a while back, a white bow-tie sash appeared around her waist and two more ribbons separated her hair into twin ponytails at the side of her head. Finally, a round straw hat appeared out of nowhere and fell upon her head. (The hat was actually a screw up; it was supposed to be a tiara she found way back when.)

When she finally landed, she gave Natsu her best pose. "In the name of my fist, I shall punish you!" She winked for good measure. It seemed the appropriate thing to do at the time.

Natsu sweat-dropped. "That..." he began, "was so lame... And what's up with the hat?"

_'Ugggh,'_ Natsu really pissed her off sometimes.

She had enough. Sakura charged at him screaming her lungs out, pure chakra engulfing her entire body. Natsu did the same, with fire engulfing his. And when they collided in a dazzling explosion of rainbow fire and blue chakra, 'The World' shattered and crumbled all around them.

**- 4 -**

Sasuke grinned, his look was full of smug satisfaction. He had beaten it; he had overcome his earlier nudist inclinations and managed to keep his boxers on for an entire fifteen minutes. Well, one of them anyways. His other pair, the original black with red clouds one was currently in a pile with his discarded coat and hat. There was no way he was going to take anything else off anymore. Well, maybe the sunglasses... or... or maybe the pair of boxers he was currently wearing. But _certainly_ not both. Never. Not unless... Gods, if Naruto and Sakura knew about this, he'd never hear the end of it.

_'Where the hell _is_ Sakura, anyways_?' he thought, looking towards the opening of the alleyway. It shouldn't have taken her this long to get Lucy. Maybe they got her train schedule wrong? No, that was impossible, he made sure of it.

He stared even harder.

Then, as if by some sort of miracle, Lucy appeared right where he stared. It was only for a brief few seconds as she passed the opening of the alleyway but there was no mistake, his eyes had caught sight of her walking casually down the crowded streets seemingly without a care in the world.

_'The hell...'_ This meant two things to Sasuke. First, it meant Sakura was either busy or indisposed with something. Second, it meant their carefully thought out plan just went to-

"Shit," he thought aloud. "What now?"

Their backup plan for this portion went something like: ...well fuck, you're screwed.

Sasuke shook his head and rethought the plan. Sakura was out of the picture so the whole 'threaten Lucy then save her to gain her trust' part of the plan was currently impossible. However, the slave ship was still in play. If they lead her to the slave ship, the plan might just still work assuming Naruto did his job...

No, they still needed to plant the idea of Terrible Consequence in her mind before she experienced the slave ship event. It was one of the keys to swaying her towards their guild and not some other random guild she had in mind.

Now that he thought about it...there was only one way the plan would still work. Sasuke would have to gain Lucy's trust himself, then lead her to the slave ship himself, then 'save' her himself.

But how? She wasn't just going to follow and chat with some random stranger.

Then all of a sudden, it came to him.

Two years ago, Sasuke had joined Blue Pegasus as per Master Illen's request. And for the first month, he hated it there. The majority of the guild was full of perpetually horny female mages who seemed to join only to be closer to a group of pretty-boy mages called 'The Trimens'. It was like they didn't care at all about doing jobs or advancing their own magic.

So for that first month, Sasuke worked alone, doing random jobs posted on the job board that was always full. Some of the Blue Pegasus girls approached him but Sasuke refused anyone who he thought was too weak, or those who only approached because they thought he was cute. He wanted a team that was useful, not a bunch of crazed magical fangirls following him around as he did all the work.

It wasn't until he met Ichiya Wanderlei Kotobuki that things began to change.

It happened without warning. Sasuke was sitting alone at his usual table at the Blue Pegasus mess hall, looking over his soon to be next mission, when a short square-faced man with the most ridiculous looking hair and gaudy looking white suit sat across from him.

And the first thing that man said was, "You reek."

At that point, Sasuke was too shocked by the out-of-the-blue insult to respond.

"Your perfume... it stinks of pain," the small man continued, "and loneliness and vengeance. Such a horrid smell polluting our wonderful guild. Here, let me help you..." Out of nowhere, the man pulled out a bottle of perfume or cologne or whatever it was and sprayed it into Sasuke's face. Then he sniffed again. "Hmm, that didn't seem to help at all. I thought for sure my perfume of love would work." All the while, Sasuke was coughing and sputtering, fighting away the sting in his eyes caused by whatever that man sprayed at him.

"I see, you must be more troubled than I thought," he had said, oblivious to Sasuke's struggle to breathe. "But worry not! For I am Ichiya Wanderlei Kotobuki and so it is my _duty_ to help you. As such, I am offering you a rare one-time opportunity to join me and the other 'Trimens.'" Ichiya gripped one of Sasuke's shoulders and looked into his face. "My, are those tears of happiness in your eyes? I am flattered but please, no need for such emotions. Remember this, men must not cry for themselves, but only for their comrades and loved ones. No need to thank me for this wonderful opportunity or my amazing advice, I do this for all the lost souls of our guild.'

Sasuke couldn't remember the specifics of what happened after that. All he knew was that they got into a fight shortly after the perfume incident, which Sasuke won handily. Followed by three more fights, one by one, against the other three Trimens, which Sasuke also won handily. Followed by the four of them giving up on their revenge and instead trying to recruit him into their group. They did this by annoyingly following Sasuke around during his missions, mostly getting in his way, until Sasuke had finally relented and joined.

That was how Sasuke became 'Silent Night Sasuke' of the Trimens (earned because he had a reputation of ignoring anyone who annoyed him which, let's face it, at Blue Pegasus, was pretty much everyone). His trademark pose when he was forced to introduce himself as a Trimens was to fold his arms together and glare away. Sasuke thought this suited him.

He didn't even hate the other Trimens like he thought he would. Hibiki and him quickly grew into good friends. Ichiya became his 'aniki' while Ren and Eve felt almost like brothers. And unlike most of the other members of Blue Pegasus, the Trimens were actually pretty powerful in their own right. Had they all fought him at once or even two at a time, he probably would have lost against them.

In any case, the other Trimens all taught him one thing that was invaluable in his current situation. And that was how to be a womanizer.

Sasuke took a deep breath. He hated having to do this but he saw no other way. He had to seduce Lucy Heartfilia.

There was a small piece requip magic 'archived' into his mind thanks to Hibiki. He used it, instantly feeling the cloth of his familiar Trimens outfit pulling across his body. It consisted of an open black suit over-top of a red untucked dress shirt underneath. A red Blue Pegasus insignia covered the shoulder of his suit and a distinct white and red fan design was embroidered into it's back.

To top it all off, he activated his Sharingan. Back at Blue Pegasus, it always made the ladies go wild.

He walked out the opening of the alleyway and looked in Lucy's general direction. He spotted her, not even a block away. Then, preparing the first pick up line that came to his mind, he approached.

**- 5 -**

"Wait! Stop!"

Lucy didn't know who the call was for, but she stopped to take a look back anyways. Her eyes almost bulged out of her sockets when she saw Mr. Ninth Mage You'd Want as a Boyfriend, Sasuke Uchiha, running towards her and waving frantically.

"Please, wait up," he begged.

Lucy couldn't believe it. She was just reading about him a moment ago, thinking what he would be like and then he appears out of nowhere? This had to be something like fate. He looked even better than he did in the magazine.

When Sasuke caught up to her, he suddenly took her hands. "I knew it," he said earnestly, "I just knew it."

Perplexed, Lucy asked, "Knew what?"

His mesmerizing red eyes looked directly into hers. "I knew that you were the most beautiful girl I have ever seen," he said with all the confidence and forwardness in the world. "There's just something about you that sets my heart on fire."

At that very moment, before Lucy could even react, she heard the familiar distant whistle of fireworks going up into the air in the distance behind him. She watched, hypnotized, as several of them exploded into Hargeon's sky, lighting up the already bright afternoon with the most dazzling display of color and radiance she had ever seen since her childhood. It hit her hard, but not in the way anyone could have predicted.

It was always the little things. And the fireworks, they reminded Lucy of her mother when she still alive and her father when he was still kind to her. They used to take her to different festivals every season to eat cotton candy and watch the fireworks unfold in the night sky. And as they watched, her father would always tell her that she was the most beautiful little girl he'd ever seen while her mother teased that her bright smile might someday light the world on fire. And those memories, brought back because of Sasuke's words, were like knives through her heart.

Funny, isn't it? A person might think that when you lose someone, the memories of the loss itself are the most painful. But that isn't true at all. At least not for Lucy. She remembered clearly how her mother died. How painful it must have been as the illness slowly seeped the life out of her. She remembered her mothers last words. She remembered her mother's serene face as she lay there lifeless on a bed. Then in a casket. Then on a picture in front of a grave. Those were bad memories, but they weren't the worst.

The worst memories were the good ones. The happy ones. Her father playfully throwing her up into the air while her mother scolded him. Her mother guiding Lucy's own hands over a silver key during her first celestial spirit summoning. The feel of either of them brushing back her hair as they tucked her away to bed, happy and safe. These were the type of memories that hurt her the most. Precious and perfect. Sharp like daggers stabbing her heart again and again and again.

So even in front of Sasuke, Lucy just stood there with her fists tightly clenched, a trembling mess, unable to turn her mind to other things, unable to stop herself from remembering. Again. And again. And again.

**- 6 -**

Sasuke thought he had done everything perfectly. The clothes, the eyes, the one-liner. Heck, he had no idea where the fireworks came from but it only added to the romantic atmosphere. Yet here Lucy was, standing there, shaking like he had done something horribly, horribly wrong. Sasuke backed away slightly as if his presence would burn her.

"I'm... I'm sorry?" Sasuke's voice tilted up, forming a question. He might have just turned around and left her standing there if it weren't for the fact that when he saw her brown eyes on the verge of tears, there was a familiar sort of emptiness there. Something he could actually understand. Something he experienced himself a long time ago. The eyes that meant she had lost something or someone close to her.

Maybe he just felt sorry for her. Or maybe it was just instinct. But he did something he would never normally do. His hand came up, brushing away the wetness that was starting to crawl down her face. She began to cry in earnest so he stepped closer, put a hand on her tensed arm and lent her his shoulder. "I know," he said sadly. "It's bad sometimes, isn't it? It's okay. Let it out. You'll feel better after."

Lucy's own hands stayed at her side as she cried even harder. "I miss her," she said between sobs.

"You can say it," Sasuke said.

Lucy was shaking hard now, her tears dripping off her chin and onto Sasuke's shoulder. "She told me to stay strong. To mind my magic lessons. To take care of daddy. She always... she always..." She choked and clench her teeth.

"Just say it," urged Sasuke softly. "It'll get better once you say it."

"She always knew exactly what to say to me," she choked out. "She always knew how to cheer me up. She always knew how to calm me down or make me feel better."

"It's okay," comforted Sasuke. "Let it out."

"I'm never... I'm never going to see her again."

**- 7 -**

_'So that's another way of gaining a woman's trust,'_ thought Sasuke as he and Lucy walked side-by-side towards Hargeon's magic shop. _'Just make her cry her heart out then console her.'_

Sasuke tucked away that particular thought into his secret bag of tricks. He'd probably share it with Hibiki, Ren, and Eve if he saw them again. The Trimens always shared their womanizing secrets with each other.

Still, he did feel genuine sympathy for her. Lucy had lost her family. He understood that particular kind of pain. He had lost his, himself. There was a bit of a difference though. Her pain was still fresh while his was dulled by time and experience.

"Hey, sorry again," said Lucy. She had regained most of her composure. "And thanks."

Sasuke's eyes quirked up. "You sure you're okay? You might be delirious if you're thanking me for making you cry. _I'm_ the one that should be apologizing to _you_."

She laughed. "I meant thanks for making me feel better. I was holding in my feelings for so long, it felt good to let it all out for once."

Sasuke gave her a look. "Then... no problem, I guess."

"So what's a mage like you doing here anyways?"

So she knew. Sasuke's eye quirked up again. "How'd you know I was a mage?"

She pointed at his shoulder. "That's the insignia of Blue Pegasus on your shoulder, isn't it? Plus, you're pretty famous."

"Famous?" retorted Sasuke sarcastically and rubbing his shoulder unconsciously. "Yeah, right."

So Lucy handed him her copy of Weekly Sorcerer, open to the 'Top Mage I'd Like as a Boyfriend' article. Sasuke scanned it, a look of outrage spreading on his face when he spotted his own name and picture within. "What the...?" He had told the Trimens specifically to not include him or mention him in any way when they were interviewed by Weekly Sorcerer... didn't he? Sasuke couldn't remember. That aside, how lame was his article? _'Jump-start your heart? Leave you burning with passion?'_ Sasuke sighed. _'Only Ichiya could write something that idiotic.'_

Lucy looked at him inquiringly. "You seem disappointed. I know mages who would do anything to get in Sorceror Weekly."

Sasuke noted internally to himself to slaughter the other Trimens at the first opportunity. "It's nothing," Sasuke responded. "I just don't like this kind of attention." He handed the magazine back to her. "It's just not who I am."

"Says the guy who just tried to hit on me," teased Lucy. "and made me cry because of it."

He glared at her for that and she smiled back. Why does nobody ever take his glare seriously anymore?

"Anyways, to answer your question, I'm here looking for a friend." said Sasuke. Then, he gestured to the keys hanging at Lucy's side. "You're a mage yourself, aren't you? A Celestial Spirit Summoner too."

"Yep," said Lucy proudly, dangling her keys up for Sasuke to see.

"So what are _you_ doing here in Hargeon?"

"I heard there was a magic shop here so I'm going to see if they're selling any rare Spirit Keys." She nodded to herself excitedly. "Then I'm going to Magnolia Town to see if I can join Fairy Tail."

Sasuke wanted to grimace but he held it in. Now was his chance. "Fairy Tail... huh?" he said, somberly.

Lucy caught this. "Hey! What's up with the long face? What's wrong with Fairy Tail?" Lucy opened up her magazine again, practically shoving Fairy Tail's article into Sasuke's face. "See, they're amazing! I bet you think they're not as good as Blue Pegasus, but if you read this, I'm sure you'll change your mind about them."

"I get it already," said Sasuke waving Lucy off. "It's not like I don't like Fairy Tail. It's just... there's been some nasty rumors about that guild recently. I can't say they're very flattering ones, either."

"Oh come on. They always get bad press" said Lucy, thinking about the crazy articles she read in Weekly Sorcerer about them. "I think they're just misunderstood, you know? They're just so different from all the other guilds. I can't explain why but I think I'd have a lot of fun there."

Sasuke smiled at her. "Maybe you're right. I'm sure the rumors are just that," he said.

Lucy's curiosity was piqued. "What kind of rumors have _you_ heard?"

Sasuke hesitated purposely for a bit. Then shook his head at her. "It's nothing, really," he said.

"Hmmm..." Lucy gave him an investigative stare.

"Look," said Sasuke. "I heard Fairy Tail is holding some kind of celebration today. I was going to stop by and see if I could meet some of them and get all these rumors sorted out myself. And my friend is supposed to be there as well."

"Seriously?" Lucy's entire being seemed to light up at this. "Where? Where?"

"It'll be at Hargeon Port on one of the ships," said Sasuke, chuckling at her excitement. "Calm down. How about this, after you finish your business at the magic shop, we can both go meet Fairy Tail together. I could use the company."

"Really?" said Lucy, pumping her fist into the air. "Yeah! Let's go!"

* * *

><p><strong>Interlude - Guild Values<strong>

**- 1 -**

Year X779 - In the Luckless Tavern

The 'Luckless' tavern was actually supposed to be called the 'Luckless Cutlass'. On it's swinging sign outside was the word Luckless sprawled atop the blade of a fat, curved sword.

Inside, the tavern was still a big mess. Aside from the long stretch of mahogany that served as the tavern's bar on the right side of the room, the tavern painted an ugly picture of destruction.

At Illen's request, the three kids, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, were seated at the bar; something about an important "adults only" meeting that was taking place between Illen, Brutus, and Beatrix at the table in the heart of the tavern. Between the 'adults' was a map, presumably of Crocus and the area surrounding the Phoenix Crown guild. The table wasn't even that far away and the kids clearly heard the discussion that was going on there.

"So, Brutus, this is the front door of the _bad_ guild. Do you know what you have to do here?"

"BRUTUS, SMASH?"

"Yes, perfect. But past that is a narrow entrance hall. Now, if you go over here..."

"THERE, BRUTUS SMASH! HERE BRUTUS SMAAAAASH!"

"Hmmm... Smash? Are you sure? I never thought of that but, my god... you're brilliant Brutus. Absolutely brilliant!"

Sakura groaned an inaudible complaint causing Naruto to give her a reassuring pat on her back. "Cheer up, Sakura. I'm sure he's not as bad as he looks... or sounds... or acts... probably. I mean, he slobbers a lot, but there's probably a chance-"

"BRUTUS CRASH!"

"Thanks, Naruto," said Sakura, sarcasm thick in her voice. She threw her face into her hands. "I wonder if Illen will let us switch."

"So you're Illen's kids, huh?" asked a voice in front of them. "New to Terrible Consequence? I've never seen your faces before." The three kids looked up to see the the tavern keeper. He was a bald, semi-formally dressed, man probably in his mid twenties or early thirties. The outfit he wore consisted of a black blazer over-top of a white button-up shirt. And he had this lazy yet hard look about him; like someone who knew his way around a fight but couldn't be bothered to actually commit to one. He gave them a curt nod and answered the question bubbling underneath their stares. "The name's Giles. I'm actually a member of Terrible Consequence too but I only do the paperwork. It's more dangerous than it sounds. Oh, and I own this here tavern." For a guy who just had half of his tavern completely wrecked, he didn't look particularly upset. In fact, he was downright languid as he poured three drinks from a bottle and pushed one to each of the kids.

Naruto stared at the drink that Giles had pushed in front of him. Within the tall clear mug was a dark violet liquid. It didn't bubble or fizz, but seemed to shimmer instead. Naruto had never seen anything like it before. "What is it?" he asked.

"Crocussi Starlight Wine," answered Giles. "A Crocus favorite. Go on, it's on the house. It should help calm your nerves a little."

Sakura clasped the mug in her hands delicately and unsure, before taking a leap of faith. When she took a sip, the violet liquid went down her throat hot, smooth and sweet. It sort of tasted familiar to her but she couldn't quite put her mind around what it was exactly. In any case, she loved it and happily gulped down a few more mouthfuls of the stuff.

Following Sakura's lead, both boys at her side took their own sips of the wine, winning looks of pleasant surprise from the both of them.

"Huh," said Naruto, "this stuff is pretty good! Thanks mister."

Giles chuckled. "You know, Illen brings all of sorts of people into this place. Mages, thugs, knights and alchemists. He even brought the actual princess of Fiore here once, though that was a pretty long time ago and she was so frickin' hussy I hope I never have to see her pretty face again. But this is the first time he's ever brought kids. Recruits, no less." Giles looked at them with an inquiring eye. "You _do_ know what kind of mage guild Terrible Consequence is, right?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura tilted her head a bit as she said this.

"So you _don't_ know. I suspected as much." Patient as can be, Giles explained. "There are two types of mage guilds out there. There are the light guilds, approved by the National Mage Council, an order that sets the rules and laws for all mages to follow. Then there are the dark guilds, which aren't approved, because they refuse to abide by those rules and laws."

"Now... let me rephrase my question: Light guild or dark guild, what kind of guild do you suppose Terrible Consequence is?" A corner of Giles' mouth crooked up into a devious smile. There seemed to be a dark miasma about him.

"W-w-we joined an _evil_ guild!" proclaimed Naruto, standing up and pointing profusely at Giles for some reason. "I knew there was something fishy about that old man!"

Giles burst into honest laughter. "You crack me up, kid," he said, motioning for Naruto to sit back down. "Calm down and finish your drink. The guild isn't what you think it is."

"Terrible Consequence is a dark guild, I know it!" Naruto refused to take his seat, worried that he may have made a deal with the devil. "There's no way in hell I'm gonna let him make me rob people, or kill people or make people suffer. That's not my ninja way!" Sakura and Sasuke both shifted uneasily in their seats at this.

"Wow, you're a remarkably naive brat, aren't you?" remarked Giles. He looked half amused and half angry. "Then let me ask you this. You know what Illen is planning, don't you? The whole annihilate Phoenix Crown thing. So why aren't you disgusted by the things he's going to do to _them?_"

"They're... those guys are different," said Naruto, uneasy. "That guild made us slaves. Anyone who uses slaves has got to be bad."

"Now what if I were to tell you this: Phoenix Crown is a perfectly legal guild. What would you think then?"

"Y-you're a liar!" Naruto accused.

Giles sighed. "I wish I was, kid. But it's the truth. You seem to think that all light guilds are automatically good and that all dark guilds are evil but the world isn't so simple as that. Take Phoenix Crown, for instance. They're a light guild but they're behind most of the undergound operations here in Crocus. Everything from slave trade, to the trafficking of illegal magic, drugs, and dangerous weapons."

"But isn't all that supposed to be against the Council's rules?" asked Sakura. "Shouldn't the Council turn them into a dark guild for stuff like that?"

"Obviously," Giles replied. "But Phoenix Crown isn't stupid enough to get caught. It's as simple as that. Hell, even if they did get caught, it would only take a few bribes and some connections at the National Mage Council and they'd get away without even a dent in their reputation. This is part of the reason why Illen wants to destroy that guild. He says they're a nuisance which means he considers them dangerous enough to actually worry over."

"So does that mean we're a light guild?" asked Sasuke, still unsure. "Out to take down all the guilds that are like Phoenix Crown?"

Giles burst out into laughter for a second time. "You guys are just too precious," he said. "You make it sound like we're some kind of vigilante guild or something." He laughed some more. "I can almost see it too. That old Master Illen crying out 'In the name of Justice' or some crap. Too funny!"

Sasuke frowned. "So we're not?"

"You're right about the light guild part," said Giles, slightly recovered from his fit of hysterical laughter. "But it's not like our guild goes out hunting for dark guilds or anything like that. Normally, we just leave them alone. But from what I can tell, Illen wants to destroy Phoenix Crown, and only Phoenix Crown, for three reasons. First, I mentioned this before, but he thinks Phoenix Crown is getting a little too dangerous. He wants them... out of the way, so to speak."

"Second, taking down that guild came as a personal request from Beatrix, though I'm not sure why. Illen respects her and values her as a member of the guild so he wants to honor the request. Same thing any guild master would do for one of their own."

"And the last reason... well he said Phoenix Crown owed him some money. And if there's one thing you should know about Illen, it's that he _really_ loves his money. I mean like, _really_ _really_ loves his money. I think he hugs Jewels at night when he sleeps. Oh, and he's got this thing with walking down beaches too. It's weird."

"So there you have it. Are you better now?" asked Giles, pointedly looking at Naruto. "Terrible Consequence is a light guild. You can rest easy tonight."

Naruto, somewhat appeased that his ninja way would not be compromised, retook his seat and slowly enjoyed the rest of his delicious wine.

"I should warn you, though, Illen tends to bend the rules a bit." Giles poured in a little more wine into each of the kid's glasses, urging them to keep drinking. "Okay, maybe he bends the rules a lot." He poured a bit more. "Hell, who am I kidding. The truth is, he doesn't follow the rules at all."

Before Naruto could get up to argue again, Giles gave him a firm look. "Listen kid, the only way to legally take down another mage guild is to declare war against them. Do you think a guild like ours with what... 4 members... 7 including you three, would be able to take on a guild like Phoenix Crown head on? They'd paint their walls with our godsdamn blood. Hell, even if we _did _have enough power to take them head on, we wouldn't. Illen wouldn't allow it. Any idea why?"

The three kids slowly shook their heads.

Giles sighed. "Illen taught us this a while back but you should hear this too: you can fight fire with fire, but only if you're willing to burn everything around you." Giles gestured to the rest of the tavern, to all the destruction. "Look what happened here in my tavern. Illen, Beatrix, and Brutus went all out here. They all fought fire with fire, so to speak, and the result was a destroyed tavern because none of them gave a shit. Now what if their friends sat over in those tables, and family and loved ones? Do you think they would have fought the same way?" Giles paused for a bit to let it sink in. "Why do you think nothing on this side of the tavern got wrecked?" He pointed to himself. "That's why."

"That's why you should understand this as well. When Illen lies, or steals, or cheats, or even kills... when he breaks any rule or law at all, he doesn't do it on a whim. He doesn't do it because he fancies himself as some kind of renegade or outlaw. He respects the laws as much as anyone out there. The ones that count anyways. He does it because _one:_ it's usually more effective and _two:_ so he doesn't lose the precious members of his guild. Because in the end, his ultimate goal is to fight a fire. A blazing fucking inferno in the heart of Crocus itself. And he doesn't want anyone he cares about to get burned because of it."

**- 2 -**

Illen's meeting was over and his two companions joined the kids at the bar, waiting for their own glasses of wine.

"My, my, what an unusually sullen looking bunch you are," said Illen as he looked over the kids. "I see you've met our Giles. He does the paperwork. It's very dangerous, mind you." Illen noted the sombre mood of his apprentices and the normal one of Giles and came to a sort of conclusion. "Giles, you've insulted them, haven't you? I swear, when you're angry your tongue gets worse than those sailors from Caelum." He turned to the kids and tried to console them. "Don't worry about him, children. He made Brutus cry once, and I assure you it was no easy feat to prevent Brutus from smashing his face in afterwards."

"It was nothing like that," said Giles, shrugging. "Just told them a little more about the guild, is all."

"Is that so," mused Illen. "That reminds me. Giles, the stamp, you know where it is. Fetch it for me, won't you?"

Giles nodded and reached underneath the bar, rummaging through something for a bit before pulling up a rubber stamp and handing it over to Illen. Then, he briefly considered Sakura, rummaged through the same spot he did before and pulled up a second rubber stamp, handing this one over to Beatrix who nodded knowingly.

Sakura looked a little confused when Beatrix suddenly grabbed hold of her arm and led her away from everyone else to some back room somewhere. Illen made no move to stop them.

"Since you three are now officially part of this guild, you will need to wear our guild insignia," said Illen. "Other guilds would have you put their insignia on any part of their bodies. We at Terrible Consequence are a little different. There is only one spot for us and it is right over-top of our hearts." He handed the stamp to Naruto first. "Go ahead," he urged. "Just press it over like so." He gestured to explain his meaning.

Skeptically, Naruto lifted up his cloak and orange shirt and pressed the stamp onto his bare chest. "Ouch," he exclaimed. Thinking it to be cold, Naruto was surprised when he found that the stamp was actually really hot. It felt like it burned him. Quickly, he took the stamp off his skin and looked down at his chest. There was no burn mark like he expected, or any mark at all really. All he saw was his usual smooth skin.

"Done," said Illen, taking the stamp away from Naruto and handing it over to Sasuke. "You're turn."

"Wait, I don't see anything," said Naruto, still squinting down at his own chest. "Isn't it supposed to leave a mark or something?"

"I'll explain in a bit," Illen merely said.

Naruto looked confused but he pulled his shirt down again while Sasuke worked on stamping his own chest. Sasuke seemed to wince a little when the stamp touched his skin but made no sound. He just pulled his shirt back down and handed the stamp back to Illen.

At the same time, they all heard a girlish squeal coming from the back room of the tavern. When they saw Sakura emerge from wherever she was, (with Beatrix following closely behind) her face was all red and she looked shaken and confused.

"You did better than Beatrix did," said Illen, all smiles. "_She_ refused to put the stamp somewhere so... private, at first." Beatrix scowled, folded her arms and looked away, slightly blushing herself.

"Now for my favorite part," Illen said as he put a hand over his own chest. "the reveal." He muttered what sounded like spell under his breath and the portion of his chest underneath his hand began to glow bright and green. A few seconds later, everyone else in the room began to feel their own chest heat up slightly and looked down to see a bright glowing marking that was clearly visible, even underneath their clothes.

The marking was an insignia that consisted of a stylized broken love heart with an arrow piercing through it's center.

"I will eventually teach you all the spell to make the insignia appear later on. It's meant to be hidden but at the same time practical. There are many times that you will infiltrate another guild or disguise yourself as someone else. Should any of you ever need to confirm the identity of another, it comes in handy."

Naruto looked confused. "Why the broken heart?" he asked. "Why the arrow?"

Illen sighed, letting the glowing marks fade away from each of them. "It means many different things to many different people," admitted Illen. "But to _us_, it is meant as a reminder of the core values of our guild. Carefulness, prudence and sobriety. Many times, not always, but many times... if you are not careful enough, someone in the guild may lose their life. If you are not prudent enough, someone in the guild may lose their life. If you do not employ enough sobriety in the things you do, the same."

"So why the broken heart? Why the arrow? It should be obvious by now. Let's use you three as an example, shall we? Let's say one of you forgets one of the core values of the guild and becomes shot with a proverbial arrow and dies. What do you think would happen to the other two?"

"They would be left with a broken heart. What a terrible consequence, don't you think?"

Interlude - Guild Values  
>- END -<p>

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Not much Naruto this chapter. Sorry for that but he's the focus of the next chapter. The next chapter will also conclude the Lucy arc of my story. It's kind of long, now that I look back at it. The entire Lucy arc is just meant as an introduction to the main story too, lol. Seriously, it's all just character introduction.

God this is going to be a long story.

Now's your chance to take the story off your favorite and alert lists. I'm serious, you'll regret it if you don't.

If you choose to review, I've got some questions for you that would help me out a lot. Answer them if you want. You don't have to.

**1)** How's my writing? Grammar/vocabulary/etc... does anything feel like it's off?

**2)** How's the flow of the story? Was there any part that was too wordy or parts that you skipped entirely because it was too boring?

**3)** How was the Sakura/Natsu fight scene? Honestly, I think I suck at writing fights. I might avoid them in the future.

**4)** How are the interludes? Are they good? Do they suck? Do you even read them? Is it because no Fairy Tail characters are in them so far?

If you do decide to answer any of my questions, please do so honestly. I'm one of the few authors who believe flames can help a writer improve, even if it isn't entirely constructive. This is because, in my opinion, a flame takes two things to kindle: a profoundly flawed story and an abrasive reviewer to rub it on.


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